Green
by balloon.baboon
Summary: What is this feeling in her gut? It cannot be envy. She could never be jealous of a girl just because she happened to be dating James Potter. JamesxLily. rated for language
1. On the Train Again

Green

**Disclaimer: **Everything in here belongs to J.K. Rowling. Except for a few OCs here and there.

Lily Evans sighed as she sat down on one of the many worn seats of the Hogwarts Express. The Winthropes were running late yet again and Lily let the silence give way to her many thoughts. The 5-minute-till whistle blew threateningly and Lily rested her forehead against the cool, foggy window. It had been a long and stressful summer. She had only been home a few weeks before her parents died in a car accident. She had to help arrange and attend the funeral, she had to deal with the will and inheritance and she had to keep herself from breaking down in tears every five minutes. Her sister Petunia had been giving her the cold-shoulder more than usual, and Lily guessed that it was because Petunia blamed her for their parents' deaths. _Although, I have no idea what a drunk driver has to do with me_. She thought bitterly. And then she had gotten her Hogwarts letter that announced that she had been selected as Head Girl. Petunia had a field day with that. "Well now. Look who's gone off and become Queen of the Freaks." Her sister had sneered once she read the letter.

Movement on the platform caught her attention and she jerked her head up and looked out. Outside was James with his suitcases stacked on a trolley and his best friend Sirius Black beside him. Something about James made Lily look closer. _He looks good this year._ She immediately blushed at the thoughts in her head. _No, even if he does look good, it doesn't mean that he isn't still the guy with an ego the size of Australia that's proud to call bullying his favorite activity._ He looked as if he was looking for someone. Lily silently prayed to God that it wasn't her he was searching for. James Potter was the last thing she needed to deal with. He turned his head to the left and smiled. A skinny blonde girl came running out of the entrance to Platform 9 ¾ and ran straight into James' arms. When they kissed, Lily stared wide-eyed. _Did Potter actually get a girlfriend?_ Lily wasn't sure why the thought seemed to bother her so much.

She was pulled out of her reverie by a loud slamming of the compartment door.

"Lily! Thank Merlin, we finally found the right compartment!" Her best friend Dany Winthrope exclaimed, breathless.

"Wouldn't have been so hard if Hilda here actually considered the fact that we _always_ sit in the same compartment every single year." Lily's other best Heidi muttered quietly. Heidi and Hilda (Dany) Winthrope were fraternal twin sisters. They hardly looked anything alike and their personalities clashed like yellow and purple.

"Haven't we been through this? You know not to call me Hilda unless Aunt Romnia's around! Plus, you didn't remember our tradition anymore than I did!" Dany shot back. The two started bickering and Lily turned back to the window.

"Lily, honey, what's wrong?" Heidi asked gently, abruptly stopping the argument.

"Oh nothing." Lily replied quietly, turning away from the window. "Just, when did Potter get a girlfriend?"

"What?" Dany demanded. She pushed Lily aside and looked out the window just in time to see James, Sirius and the blonde girl rush hurriedly onto the train. "When did this happen?"

Heidi shrugged. "Must have happened over the summer. Why does it bother you so much?"

"Probably because this is proof that my reign as gossip queen of the school is coming to an end. Why didn't I find out about this?" Dany looked shocked. On her face it looked fairly comical.

"I was asking Lily."

"Oh I don't know. He's just never had a girlfriend before has he? He was always too busy chasing me…" Lily's voice drifted off and she sank against the window again.

"So much for 'I will wait for you forever, Lily!'" Dany muttered as she took her seat across from Lily.

The door slammed open and the blonde girl from the platform looked in. Lily immediately recognized her as the ravenclaw from her transfiguration class. Her name was Norma or Nana or something. She was one of those perky, popular girls that Lily usually didn't pay any mind to. Now that she looked closer, Lily saw she was absolutely beautiful. The way her long shiny hair slid over her shoulders caught the light in a way Lily's curly red hair never would. Her face was tan from the summer and she had a perfect hourglass figure. Lily suddenly felt self-conscience and looked away.

"Oops. Sorry." She said to the girls and turned around. "James, this compartment has people in it already."

"Nova," A voice behind her called back. "We're not looking for an empty compartment. Just the one Remus and Peter are in." Nova. That was her name.

"Oh okay." The door slid shut and the footsteps faded away.

"Whoa. This is different. I thought for sure that the first thing Potter would do would be to jump in here and start hitting on Lily. Did he ever say he was giving up the chase?" Dany asked.

"I dunno. He seemed pretty distant from us last year after Lily slapped him and told him to go to hell. I just assumed he was recovering so he could take another shot at her though." Heidi answered. It was true. He had announced his unfaltering love for her during the post-finals party in 6th year and Lily had been so embarrassed she had cursed him to the fiery depths and slapped him. Hard. Potter had then stayed away from her for a while -as he always did once she did something awful to him- and now that she thought about it, he had stayed like that for the remainder of the year as well. Plus, she had never received an owl from him that summer.

"Well it should be a finally be a relaxing year without Potter sticking his ugly mug in our faces every ten seconds." Dany murmured, more to herself than anyone else.

---------------------

Lily checked her watch and excused herself to go to the prefect meeting. Only when she walked in she saw the person she least expected to be standing in the Head compartment.

"Potter? What in Merlin's name are you doing here?" She asked, completely bewildered.

"Oh, yeah. I'm Head Boy this year." He replied, then flinched slightly as if she was going to explode. When she didn't, he seemed to calm down a bit.

"Well." Lily coughed. "That's a bit… unexpected. Yeah, so I'm Head Girl this year."

"Not much of a surprise there." he said quietly. An awkward silence followed. Lily stared at her feet until the compartment door opened and the prefects shuffled in.

Lily talked to the prefects about their duties and James stood next to her, throwing in a word every few minutes. When they finished, everyone left to go change, return to their compartments or patrol the halls.

Lily took off to change into her school robes before she met up with the Winthropes. She couldn't help but think that Dany was wrong. This year was definitely going to be anything but relaxing.

**A/N: Wow. This was really long. I can't promise that I'll get to update soon. But I will try to finish the story. I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes, my computer's freaking out with some of these names and I pressed "Ignore" a lot. Please review and tell me if I need to fix anything. Thanks.**


	2. Untameable Thoughts

**A/N: Okay, so I found some extra time today so I decided to write the second chapter… I have a good idea for the future chapters about how it might make the story stand out a bit, but it might take me awhile to get it down on paper.**

---------

Lily sat back down in her seat.

"So… How'd it go? Who's the new Head Boy?" Heidi asked.

"Oh, um. It was fine. Potter's Head Boy." Lily replied quietly.

"What? Has Dumbledore gone mad?" Dany demanded. "I wonder what other surprises that boy has under his sleeve..."

"I dunno. He seems to be full of them though doesn't he?" Heidi stated. When Lily didn't respond, she looked at her carefully. "Honestly, Lily, what has gotten into you? You have barely talked to us all day!"

"Maybe its Potter. Maybe Lily has suddenly fallen in love with him." Dany joked. She laughed but stopped suddenly when Lily remained silent. "Oh my God! You haven't really, have you?"

"What? No! Of course not! I'm just trying to figure out what's up with him. That's all." Lily said quickly. The twins didn't look convinced, but Dany immediately struck up a conversation with Heidi about some of the latest news she had just found out about.

"So Sadie told me that Toni finally found the nerve to ask Brea out, but he didn't know that Brea had started dating Thompson during summer vacation! And then…" Lily slowly tuned out Dany's excited gibberish and drifted off to sleep.

---------

James sat down in his seat and laid his head back. It had been weird seeing Lily after all he had done to stop his infatuation with her. After her explosion at the post-finals party, he had decided to give up the chase for good. His fellow marauders had been relieved at his decision, but they all knew the journey would not be easy. And then that summer he had met Nova and the two had really hit it off. But that still did not stop his heart from fluttering like mad when he saw Lily again. He felt all the barriers he had set up against her weaken, but he knew that if he didn't want her stepping on his heart anymore, he would have to try harder.

"Chocolate frog?" James jumped when Sirius hit him in the face with the candy.

"What were you thinking about, James?" Nova asked sweetly. James struck up a quick excuse about being hungry for dinner, which got Sirius talking energetically enough to be able to slip out of the conversation and into his thoughts again.

---------

When the train reached the station Heidi gently woke Lily and the three left for the carriages. Her sleep had been light and she didn't remember her dreams, but she had a feeling that they weren't normal. She stepped into the carriage and started thinking about what her duties as Head Girl would be. She had hoped they wouldn't be too stressful or take too much time, as it was their NEWT year, and her quietness once again made her friends give her strange looks.

"Are you sure your okay?" Heidi asked once again.

"Really I'm fine. I'm just hungry." Lily replied.

"Oh! Me too! Candy can only do so much to fill ones stomach you know." Dany said. "Just the thought of the feast makes my mouth water." They talked a bit more about the food and a little about their summers and then they were at the castle.

"I can't wait to start! Can you believe that this will be our last year? Then we'll be out in the real world." Heidi said as they walked up the stairs to the castle. Her voice was filled with anticipation.

"Yeah, out in the world in the middle of a war with You-Know-Who." Silence followed Dany's comment and they walked into the Great Hall.

---------

**A/N: It was really short. I know. But I didn't want to put too much in one chapter. I also didn't like it much, but oh well. Reviews anyone? **


	3. Denial

**A/N: Finishing up with the slow chapters… Should be getting better soon! I promise!**

As the tables in the Great Hall filled, Lily couldn't keep from sneaking glances at James and Nova. _They really do look good together_, She thought. Much to her dismay, her friends noticed and when she turned her eyes back to the table, Dany pounced.

"I knew it."

"Knew _what_, exactly?" Lily tried.

"You know very well _what_. You keep goggling at Potter. Don't think we haven't seen you turn to stare at him every second. You do like him, don't you?" But Dany never received an answer because at that moment the new 1st years filed in and Professor McGonagall demanded silence. "We'll talk later," Dany hissed before turning her attention to the front.

6 Ravenclaws, 5 Hufflepuffs, 7 Gryffindors and 5 Slytherins later, Professor Dumbledore stood up. "Normally I would give you a long, detailed speech about events, expectations and instructions, but at this moment, I'm too famished to think of much else. So, let us eat!"

As the plates filled, Lily silently begged that Dany would leave the interrogation for later, and luckily, her wish came true as Dany grabbed her favorite foods. Even when she had finished eating, the Winthropes were too busy talking to their other friends about their summer. After the tables were emptied of food, the Headmaster started the proper speech.

"Welcome students! I hope that this year will be an exciting and safe year for all of us," He announced. "Our caretaker Mr. Filch has started a list of all things banned from Hogwarts. It is posted on the door of his office. Please stop by and check the list, and most importantly, dispose of the forbidden items properly, if you have any of them. Also, for information on quidditch tryouts, ask your house captain.

"This year's Head Boy is Mr. James Potter," James stood up and waved and shocked whispers filled the hall. "and this year's Head Girl is Ms. Lily Evans," Lily stood up quickly, and in her haste, almost fell over. "If you have any questions that you cannot come to a teacher with, they are here for you. James, Lily, if you don't mind coming and talking with me after dismissal."

---------

James almost laughed when Peter told him that Lily kept staring at him. One year ago it had been him spying on Lily non-stop, and now that he had a girlfriend, suddenly, it was vise-versa? No, it had to be something else.

"I doubt it Pete." Remus muttered. "She must have been looking somewhere else. Why would anyone ever want to look at James for too long?"

"Hey now. Many people find looking at my face to be a wonderful way to pass the time." Said James.

"Maybe he has something in his nose," said Sirius, joining in. "Got any bats in the cave there, Prongsie?" They all laughed.

"She better not be staring at James." Nova twisted in her seat to look for the redhead, hoping to catch her in the act.

---------

After the ending speech, Lily left the pack to go talk to Dumbledore, like she was asked to. James was there before her.

"Ah, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said. "And Ms. Evans. Wonderful. James may I safely guess that you heard about what happened in the Evans' household this summer?" When James nodded, he continued. "And Lily, I'll assume you know about what happened to James' parents in 6th year, am I correct?" If he was talking about how James' parents were brutally murdered by death eaters, then yes, of course she knew what he was talking about. Lily had the feeling that Dumbledore was treading in dangerous territory if he was mentioning these stories.

"Yes I heard about it." Lily said suspiciously.

"Yes, well, I was thinking that Mr. Potter could help you through the year, since he experienced a similar tragedy last year." So that's why he was Head Boy. To babysit her and make sure she made it through the year. Lily felt the anger bubble up inside her.

James seemed to sense her anger because he quickly changed the subject with Dumbledore to the location of the Head's dorm.

"Oh yes, of course. You can find the entrance behind the portrait of Bonabus the Clever. The password is 'Pasties'. Good night to you both."

Lily felt herself being pulled out of the Great Hall by James. Once out of earshot she rounded on him. "Did you know that? That he only wanted you to be Head Boy so that you could make sure I didn't kill myself by the end of the year?"

James shrugged. "No. I knew he'd have to have a reason though. I'm not exactly a model student am I? I was never even a prefect."

"Does he really think I need a watchdog or something?" She exclaimed.

"Calm down. He just wants me to make it a bit easier on you. That's all." Lily felt bad for taking all her frustration out on James.

"Yeah okay. To tell you the truth, I'd rather not sleep in the Head's dorm. I think I'll go see if my old bed's still available. Catch you later James." James. She loved the way his name felt on her tongue. Like velvet. Why had she never called him that? Why had it always been Potter?

"Alright. Bye." James waved and took off down the hall. Lily watched him leave. Even when she was walking in the opposite direction from him, thoughts of him filled her head for the whole walk to the Gryffindor common room.

---------

Upon arrival at the common room, Lily found it to be empty of her friends. They had probably gone to bed, assuming that Lily would be staying in the Head's dorm. She sank in front of the fire and watched it dance upon the wood. _James._ Her thoughts repeated his name in a rhythm. _James, James. Am I jealous of Nova? Do I miss having James chasing after me and asking me out every week? _Then realization hit her like a wave. _I miss him._ She sat and considered this. Suddenly she felt angry with herself

_So I miss him a little bit. It means nothing._ She stared into the fire. _He's probably still a stuck up snob._ She crossed her arms. _With an amazing smile._ She ignored her last thought. Suddenly, the image of his smile and the sound of his laugh hit her memory and she pictured his lips touching hers and-

She stood up and raced up the stairs to wake her friends.

---------

Heidi was having a weird dream about a fish when Lily shook her awake.

"Whasgoinon?" She yawned. Lily said nothing as she crossed the room to wake up Hilda. Heidi rubbed her eyes and sat up. What was that dream about? There was that fish, and then she vaguely remembered something about a clock and a giant teddy bear. She heard her sister's snores give way to murmurs of protest as Lily dragged her out of her bed and sat her upon Heidi's.

"What's going on?" Heidi asked again. She ran a hand threw her hair and her pinky got caught in a tangled mess of brown hair. As she struggled to set it free, Lily started whispering her reason for waking them.

"I think I have a crush on James." She said quietly. Then looked at them for their reactions.

"She finally admits it." Dany said. "We already knew that by the way. You made it so obvious." Lily ignored her and turned to Heidi.

Heidi breathed in and out before she answered. "There's one problem with that, sweetie. He already has a girlfriend."

**A/N: Yes! Another chapter up! And I'm still waiting for a review. Anybody? **


	4. The Plan

**A/N: Hooray! A boring weekend full of cleaning means time for writing chapters! Anyway, I've been thinking about the best way to write this chapter for awhile. I might have to rewrite some of it if I don't like it much. And if you can, please, please, please, review! **

---------

Dany almost slapped her sister in the face when she tried to wake her up. After having to deal with an emotionally unstable Lily for half the night, she was not ready to spend the whole day in class. As soon as she stepped out of bed and her feet touched the cold floor she almost hopped back into her warm bed. She comforted herself with the thought of a warm shower and breakfast as she trudged to the bathroom. Her hopes were shattered, however, when she saw that she was once again the last person up and had to deal with a line of girls who could take up to thirty minutes in the bath.

"You have got to be kidding me!" She groaned. If she wanted to make breakfast, it would mean skipping her early morning shower. Which was something she did _not _want to do. Her other roommate Brea smiled sympathetically.

"Jamie's first this morning. I think it would probably be a better idea to swap the a.m. shower for the one after class." Jamie was infamous for using up all the hot water.

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you." She decided Brea was right and grabbed her school robes and pulled them on. She walked down the stairs and was surprised to see that Lily and Heidi followed.

"So what are we going to do about James?" Lily begged them.

"Well its simple isn't it?" Dany said. Heidi and Lily stopped and stared at her. She sighed. "James got Lily jealous. Now Lily wants James. So the only thing to do is make James jealous. So what we need is someone who doesn't approve of Nova, is really close to James, and is hot."

Heidi scoffed. "And where exactly are we going to find this guy?"

---------

Sirius was miserable. He was sick of having to watch Nova feeding James bacon. _Can't he feed himself anymore?_ Although he had to admit it was better than listening to Nova's pet name for James.

"More bacon Booh bear?" Nova's oversweet voice cooed. Sirius winced. This was too much. He looked at Peter who was stuffing his own face with bacon and then to Remus who had a similar pained expression.

"Yeah, okay. I'm out of here. I think I'll go grab my books before class." Sirius announced, pushing himself up from the table.

James looked up. "I thought you already took your books before we came down."

"I think I forgot my Transfiguration one. I'll just meet up with you later." Once he was free from the Great Hall he felt relieved. Nova was like a leech. _Doesn't she have her own friends? _He was so lost in his thoughts he accidentally ran straight into Heidi Winthrope.

"Watch it Black." Lily warned from beside her. They walked on. "Wait… Black!" Sirius turned around.

"And how may I help you my ladies?" He asked. Dany walked up to him.

"What do you think about Nova?" she asked him.

Sirius, thinking this was some sort of a test, quickly made up a lie. "Nova? She's, um, super nice. Lot's of fun to hang out with. Why?"

"No, what do you _really_ think of her? Because… we're thinking of breaking up her and James. And we'll need inside help." Sirius thought that was a little bold, but was relieved beyond measure.

"Really? Thank Merlin! I can't stand that girl!" He exclaimed. Then lowered his voice. "Anything you want me to do, I'll do it."

"Excellent." Dany whispered. Then the bell rang. "Meet us in the common room during lunch. It should be empty then." The girls hurried off to the Transfiguration classroom but Sirius stood where he was, thinking, before the breakfast crowd heading to their classes swept him up.

---------

_Is it my imagination_, James thought. _Or did McGonagall get even more boring over the summer?_ No, her voice was the same sharp tone she had used last year. He was probably just tired. She was droning on about the proper incantation to turn a toad into a violin and James felt his eyelids grow heavy.

"She's staring at you again." Nova complained beside him.

"Don't worry about it Nova. Lily's probably just appalled that James is falling asleep on the first day of class already." Remus consoled her. Full moon was coming up and James couldn't believe it wasn't Remus nodding off on the table. In fact, his friend was sitting up perfectly straight, quill in hand, listening intently to Professor McGonagall.

"Bugger off Remus. I could hardly sleep last night." He looked to Sirius for support, but he was strangely unresponsive. He had been almost perfectly silent since breakfast.

"Why are you so quiet Sirius?" Peter asked.

"Oh. Nothing. I'm just tired." Sirius didn't look any of them in the eye, just stared straightforward. James found the behavior to be very un-Sirius, but he didn't pressure him for answers. Maybe he was just too damn tired.

---------

Lily was getting anxious. The bell for lunch had rung five minutes ago and Sirius still hadn't showed up at the common room.

"Suppose he doesn't show up? Suppose he decided to tell James what we told him? You never should have flat out told him we wanted to break up James and Nova, Dany! What were you thinking?" She was pacing now.

"Chill out, Lils. He'll be here. And I didn't want to confuse the idiot too much by giving him hints and clues. Sometimes being straight-forward is the only way to go." Dany replied simply.

"Idiot am I?" Sirius walked in. "That's a surefire way to convince people to do your bidding. Just insult them. Nice."

"Right sorry about that. We need to get to business. We only have so much time before someone wanders in here."

"Well that's what you get for picking a such a public location." Sirius muttered.

"And do you happen to know of any other places to hold a private conversation?" she asked mock-sweetly.

"Sure, lots. Just you don't know about any of them."

"Okay, shut up you two!" Heidi interrupted. "As Dany said before, we have a limited amount of time. So lets do something other than flirt, shall we?"

Sirius and Dany looked as if they wanted to argue with Heidi's last comment, but one icy glance from Lily and they bit their tongues. Lily cleared her throat. "Okay Sirius. We worked out all the details during DADA."

"Okay. So what do you want me to do?" Sirius asked.

"Well, er, we, I mean, you, need to…" Lily stuttered.

"Oh good God. You need to go out with Lily!" Dany finished.

"WHAT? Why?" Sirius was shocked. How would this help? Had this whole thing just been a scheme to get Sirius to go on a date with her? He had never considered Lily to be one of those fan girls. You think you know a girl…

"Listen. If you date Lily, James will get jealous. No doubt about that. And Nova will notice. No doubt about that either. So James will see this ugly side of her that he won't like, plus, he'll realize he still likes Lily." Heidi explained.

"No way! First of all, I've done way to much this summer to help James get over Lily. Second, you think he'll be pleased with the fact that I am dating the girl he swooned over for 4 years? Third, why do you even care?" Sirius argued.

"All good questions." Heidi reasoned. "I don't really care about your first statement. For the second one, just tell him that James does not own Lily and that you really, really like her, even though you don't, and then just walk away as if James is being a real jerk who doesn't care about your feelings. And for your third, Lily may, perhaps, have a crush on James." Lily blushed a deep crimson and Sirius barked out a laugh.

"That's hilarious!" Sirius snorted and Lily looked murderous. "After all those years of chasing after you, he gives up, and Lily get jealous! AHA!"

Just when Lily was really tempted to punch him out, Dany spoke. "So will you help us or not? Don't you want James to finally be happy?"

Sirius smiled. "I'm your man."

---------

**A/N: Wow, look at how many POVs I fit into this chapter! Counts sections with fingers That's 4! So please review? The more reviews, the faster the update. I just want to find out what you guys think of my writing. Help a poor scribbler in need?**

**Thanks to PRONGS-and-LILY-forever & TickleMepInK21 for reviewing! Have a cookie!**


	5. Taking Action

**A/N: Procrastinating. I really should be finishing a book report… ah well. **

---------

"Booh Bear!" James turned around to see Nova running to him. "Did you forget? We have Care of Magical Creatures together!"

"Oh really?" How could he forget?

Nova smiled sweetly up at him. "It's okay. We can walk together." Sirius came down from the stairs in front of them.

"Where were you? You missed lunch." James accused, throwing him an apple. "You _never_ miss lunch."

"Er. I had some business to attend to." Sirius said, taking a bite out of the apple. _By that he means snogging some girl in a broom cupboard. _James translated in his head.

"Oh really? Who's the unlucky girl?" Remus asked, appearing beside them. He was apparently thinking along the same lines as James.

"You'll meet her later." Sirius winked and ran off ahead.

"Merlin, he's been so weird lately." Remus muttered.

"Yeah he has." Peter piped up, trying to contribute to the conversation.

"Doesn't matter. We'll figure it out later." James ended and they walked out into the grounds.

---------

Lily was nervous. She expected that she would have butterflies, but it still bothered her nonetheless. As she watched James come closer, her stomach did a little cartwheel. He put his hand threw his hair and she almost swooned. Why had she never noticed how cute that was? _Get a grip on yourself Evans. Drooling over him will only increase the chances that the plan will fail. Ugh, when did I start drooling over James in the first place?_ She looked away and watched as Professor Grubbly Plank tried to pull a heavy container of meat to the area.

"You, boy. Come give me a hand will you?" Plank pointed to a tall ravenclaw. "Now class. Today we will be going into the forest. As this is your NEWT year, don't expect any of this to be easy. In fact it will be quite the opposite. Today we will be taking notes on the mating habits of gingrops. This," she indicated the meat. "Is just a precaution. A form of distraction, if you will, just incase things get nasty. Male gingrops can get very aggressive during mating season, as you should all know if you studied at all over the summer. This will be on your NEWTs. So do pay attention. Come along then." She led the group off into the trees and Lily cast Heidi and Dany an anxious look.

They had been walking a few minutes when Sirius appeared beside her. "Best to practice." He told her when she asked what he was doing. All of the sudden the professor stopped.

"Ah. A perfect specimen, right here." Lily observed the so-called "perfect specimen". To her it looked like a reptilian chicken. Instead of feathers it had green scales and its eyes were a spooky red. She shrieked when it suddenly let loose a spray of fire towards a bush and started moving backwards very slowly putting its feet in awkward positions.

"Good! He has started his mating dance! You should be taking notes, go!" Lily jumped and began digging in her bag for a quill and a piece of parchment. It was a really weird experience. The gingrop danced for a while before a similar looking female stepped out of the bushes and looked at him for a while before walking off.

"Oh what a shame, the female rejected him. It would have been such a good opportunity." She did look awfully disappointed. "Oh well. We have run out of time. Your homework will be to write a paper on the elaborate movements of the gingrop's mating dance. Due Thursday, no exceptions. Off you go now. I trust you know how to maneuver your way through 9 meters of forest without getting lost?"

---------

Lily was able to find her way out of the woods and into her potions class before the bell. When she walked in the first thing she saw was Professor Slughorn's huge body pulling her into a hug.

"Lily Evans! So good to see you! You know, this summer I was able to concoct a few potions that might challenge even you!" He laughed and Lily gave a painfully cheesy smile.

"That's great Professor. I can't wait to give them a try." Another cheesy smile and she was safely in her seat. Heidi slid into the seat on her left, and Dany into the one on her right.

"Still the old slug's favorite student I see." Dany commented, poking Lily in the side.

"Will I ever not be?" Lily sat up and waited for Slughorn to start.

"Today I will be starting you off with something easy, just to get you warmed up. A quick brew of tripudium transporto if you please." Tripudium transporto, portable joy. She could definitely do that. She got up to collect the materials she needed and when she got back to her seat she found a note waiting for her. She set down the toad eyes and read it:

**All systems go. I'm telling them Wednesday before breakfast. Follow my lead.**

_-SB_

She caught Sirius' eye and nodded.

---------

_Tripudium transporto, could there be an easier potion?_ Severus felt proud as he set about his work. He might even do better that the old slug's favorite student Lily. _Lily._ Her name makes his heart bitter and a scowl formed on his face. When did she start passing notes with that revolting Black? He wondered if there was something between them. _No, no. Stay positive and focus on your work._ He told himself.

Mulciber elbowed him in the chest. "We're skipping dinner. Avery says there's been a 3rd year pestering him and we're gonna teach him a lesson. You in?"

"No, I'm not feeling well." Snape replied, massaging his ribcage. "I'm just going to head off early to bed. You tell him that I'll deal with him next time."

Mulciber shrugged. "Your loss."

---------

Happy to have scraped off with only 2 essays for homework for the whole day, Peter strolled off down the corridor thinking delicious thoughts about dinner. Hopefully there'd be turkey. He'd been craving turkey for awhile, with a lot of gravy. The thoughts made him salivate but he held it in once the other marauders caught up with him.

"Finally going to join us for a meal Padfoot?" Remus asked Sirius.

"I decided I might as well let you experience the joy my presence for one afternoon." Sirius replied.

_What should I say? Think of something witty! Think! _"Er, that's noble of you." They laughed. Which was good.

---------

On Wednesday morning Sirius woke up, stretched and would have fallen back asleep again if he had not remembered all the things he had to do that day. He made a mini list in his head.

Tell James I'm dating Lily

Convince James not to kill me.

Run away like a baby pretending James was an insensitive prick.

Avoid James until he apologized.

He had been dreading this day for some time. He had delayed it as much as possible, but he had to take action sometime. So he lumbered over to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, changed and sat down on the floor to pull on his trainers. Once James emerged from the bathroom he decided to get it over with.

"Hey Prongs, thought I should tell you about my new lady friend." He said in what he hoped was a calm voice.

James faced him. "Finally going to tell me who you've been disappearing with all this time? Well go on then, who is it?" By this time the rest of the dorm had started listening in.

He took a deep breath. "Lily Evans." He finished his laces and stood up.

"What?"

"Lily Evans."

James looked shocked. Then he laughed. "Come on now Padfoot. Who's it really?"

"Lily Evans."

James smile quickly turned into frown. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. I really am dating Lily. Why? Is that a problem?" By this point, their roommates had sensed the tension and left the room, but Remus and Peter stayed behind, exchanging shocked expressions.

"Of course I have a problem with it. This is the Lily Evans that you made me cut up pictures of this summer! You hit me every time I mentioned her name or wondered aloud how she was doing! You set me up with Nova just to forget about her!"

"You never said I couldn't date her, did you? She's not your property and I really care a lot about her!" He felt awful for lying like this, but he had to admit he was doing a pretty good job. _And now for the final touch:_ "You don't give a crap about what I feel do you? Its always been about you! You and your issues! What about me?" He stormed down the steps and out of the common room. Where he then slumped against a wall and wondered what he had just done.

---------

**A/N: I hope I did the chapter justice. I wasn't really sure about the age difference between Snape, Avery and Mulciber, but the book mentions that he hung out with them while he was at Hogwarts, so I just slid them in there. Please review!!!**


	6. Side Effects

**A/N: I have ideas, diabolical ideas…**

---------

Lily was telling Roy Johnson about the herbology homework when Sirius came running down the stairs and into the hallway.

"Oh God." She excused herself from Roy and walked to the portrait hole, motioning for Heidi and Dany to follow. Once she was outside and saw him slumped against the wall, she hesitated. Should she say something to him? Or should she just leave him alone? She decided to go with the latter. She didn't want to make him feel any worse. By the time she had made up her mind, however, he had noticed the girls.

"Hey." He said, straightening up. "It could've gone worse I suppose. I just never saw his reaction. I sort of, ran out."

"Its okay. As long as you got your point across it should all work out as planned," said Dany. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

--------

James couldn't move. He was so shocked at what Sirius had just done. _He's dating Lily? That shouldn't bother me. That doesn't bother me. It will not bother me._ He averted his eyes from Remus and Peter.

"Should we get breakfast James?" Peter asked, his tone concerned.

He felt sick to his stomach. Breakfast? How could anybody be hungry? "Yeah sure. Let's go."

---------

A scream sounded from the bathroom of the 7th year ravenclaw girls.

"Oh my god! Nova what is it?" Her best friend Lucy begged, pounding on the door. She wasn't leaning against it long before it burst opened and Nova ran out of the bathroom and hid her face under her pillow. "Nova, what the hell is it?" Her friend was worried, she knew, but she didn't care.

She removed her head out from under the pillow to show Lucy the problem. "I've got a gargantuan zit disfiguring my face!" She wailed. Lucy obvious relief made her want to scream. She pointed out the small red bump on her cheek to Lucy. "How did this even happen? I always keep my hands off my face at all times!"

"Apparently you fell asleep on your hand again, I wouldn't worry about it too much." Lucy reasoned.

"But I have to look perfect 24-7 for James! Otherwise he'll run off with that Evans girl, I just know it!" Lucy sighed and got off the bed to get dressed.

"I am going to Madam Pomfrey! Maybe _she_ cares about me, unlike some people I know. I'm borrowing your necklace, just so you know." And with that, she pulled her hood over her head, as to cover the blemish, and stormed off towards the hospital wing.

--------

"James!" Roy Johnson called out.

"Hey Roy. What's up?" James smiled at him.

"Just wondering when tryouts will be held this year." Roy was keeper for the Gryffindor quidditch team, and a good one at that, even if Gryffindor hadn't won a single house cup as long as James had been at Hogwarts.

"Oh yeah! Sorry, it's been a busy first week. I haven't really set the date yet, but you'll be the first to know once I figure it out." Okay he was lying; Sirius would probably be the first to know. _Sirius_. He almost forgot. And speak of the devil, Sirius walked in.

"Sirius!" James called out and ran over to him. "I just wanted to let you know that I don't mind that you're dating Lily. Well, actually… I do mind. But its okay if you date her, as long as you don't hurt her. Got that?"

A look of confusion passed over Sirius' face for a second, before it was replaced with his normal cool expression. "Oh great. Thanks a lot. And, yeah sure… I promise I won't hurt her. No problem." They sat down together and they talked for a few minutes before Nova walked in, clutching her hood to her face and looking as if she was pretending to be invisible. She didn't say a word as she sat down across from James.

"Nova, what's wrong? Are you cold?" James asked. She had never acted like this before.

"What? Er, yes. That's it. I'm dreadfully cold. But I'll be okay. Don't worry about me." She smiled.

---------

When Lily walked into the Great Hall she was confused as to where to sit. _Should I sit on the opposite side of the table so Sirius and James can talk? Should I sit next to him and flirt? _"Where do we sit?" she asked aloud.

"_You_ sit next to Sirius and right across from James. _We_ will be sitting and observing from seats nearby. You have to do this alone for the right effect. We'll manage without you for one day." Heidi said. Lily nodded and sat down next to Sirius and looped her arm through his.

"Good morning." She kissed him on the cheek and leaned against him. She looked around the table. "Oh hi James," Lily nodded "Nova."

James was turning red and she nearly squealed. This was too easy.

---------

Two tables over, Severus Snape was watching the scene happening at the Gryffindor table. He couldn't handle it. _Don't think about it. Don't think about it!_ He urged himself as he ran out of the Great Hall and down to the dungeons where the Slytherin common room lay.

---------

It was a cool October morning and the first homework and head duty free Saturday Lily had had that year. She had stayed up late Friday trying to finish an exhausting essay from McGonagall, but she thought it was worth it. She was walking down the hallway with Sirius and the two were discussing how well the plan was going when they heard James cursing at someone and running down the hallway in front of them.

"Quick, follow my lead." Sirius whispered in her ear and he began kissing her. She would have pushed him away if she didn't know how much it would help the plan. _He tastes like eggs_, she thought, repulsed._ How do girls fancy him?_ When they heard the sound of something heavy dropping they released each other and turned around. James was standing there frozen to the spot. The item that dropped happened to be a rather heavy looking globe, but James couldn't have dropped it, where would he get a globe? Lily looked up and saw, much to her dismay, Peeves the poltergeist.

"Why lookie here! Peevsie and Jamesie must have accidentally interrupted Ms. Head student Lily Evans and Mr. Black. Just wait 'till Dumblydore hears about what his favorite student has been getting up to!" Peeves cackled happily and floated away, singing a crude song at the top of his lungs.

James was covered head to toe in splatters of black ink. It looked as if Peeves was whom he had been running from.

He cleared his throat. "Nice seeing you." Then he simply turned and walked away. She desperately wanted to call out to him, but Sirius did before her.

"James! Hey James!" But James didn't turn around; he just kept walking until Lily couldn't see him any more.

"Er… Was that a positive or negative reaction?" Lily asked Sirius.

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno. Look I'll catch you later okay?" He walked down the opposite corridor, and Lily found herself quite alone, wondering what to do.

---------

Sirius sank into an empty library seat. No one would ever think to look for him in there, especially not on a Saturday. That kiss with Lily had been amazing, even if it wasn't real. It had sent shocks all the way through his body and he had no idea what to do. He figured he should probably tell her how he felt, since she would definitely feel the same way. Who could say no to him? It wouldn't really change much if they did go out anyway, since they technically were right now. It also wasn't like him to go announcing his feelings to girls; girls usually came up to him announcing _their_ feelings. Would she totally lose her respect for him if he told her? He didn't really understand the inner workings of the female mind. And what was the deal with her little crush on James?

This was all too confusing and he tried to think of something else, but one thought came to mind, _do I really like her like that? How do I know I wasn't just caught up in the moment?_ He decided to think about it all later and he went to his dormitory to take a nap. One thing was for sure; Lily was a fantastic fake kisser.

---------

Lily scrubbed her mouth clean with her toothbrush and spit. She could still taste eggs. It was disgusting.

"So then he just, like, corners me against the wall and starts snogging me. I about barfed. He tastes like eggs, it was so nasty." She brushed her teeth again and she still wasn't satisfied.

"Let's stay positive, this is proof that James really is jealous. We're making progress, that's good." Heidi stated. "And at least now you know what to expect next time he kisses you."

"Next time!" Lily spit out her toothpaste. "I pray to God that there will be no next time."

---------

**A/N: First of all, no offense intended for the zit remarks up there. I don't mean to say that anyone who freaks out over acne is like Nova. Pimples are my mortal enemy, so I'd just be insulting myself. I guess this is starting to become a bit of a tangled web isn't it? Lily likes James, who is dating Nova, who likes James, who can't seem to get over Lily, who is liked by Severus and now Sirius. I'm like writing a freaking soap opera here! Ah well. Comments? PLEASE!!!**


	7. Full Moon

**A/N: So here's all I need you to do: read (even if you hate it), laugh (even if it's not funny), and review (even if it's a flame complaining about how much you hate my precious author notes). **

**---------**

It was Halloween and James was lying in bed considering his options. He could get up and celebrate one of his favorite holidays with an obnoxiously loud party in the common room. He wasn't really up for much partying though. He could pretend he was sick and wallow in his misery all day, but he wasn't sure how that would help anything. He could spend the day with Nova. Er, scratch that last one. How could he hang out with Nova when his thoughts kept wandering off to Lily? It'd be almost like cheating, and surely just as bad.

He really shouldn't be feeling like this. Lily and Sirius had been dating for almost 2 months when he caught them snogging in the hallway. Honestly, you couldn't expect a guy like Sirius to keep his hands to himself. He didn't know why he never considered that they might do something more than hold hands.

He ended his thoughts and decided to take the marauder's map and his invisibility cloak and explore some of the corners of the castle. Today was definitely the type of day to be invisible.

But one thought that was biting and tugging at his heart. _How could she choose Sirius, when I was the one waiting patiently for her for years?_

---------

Dany was throwing a hacky sack against the tree trunk and catching it. It created an irksome rhythmic thump every few seconds and Lily wanted to grab it and throw it into the lake. And she would have, had she not known that this was Dany's way of entertaining herself when Heidi and Lily felt like reading underneath the tree beside the lake.

"Dany, if you're going to be an irritating prat, go inside and hang out with your other friends. Throw a Halloween party, for all I care." Heidi complained, without looking up from her newest novel.

Dany ignored Heidi's party suggestion, but she did cease with the hacky sack. She moved herself away from the tree and sat next to Lily, crossing her legs and facing the lake. "What is it you actually like about Potter?" She asked Lily.

Dany's question caught Lily so off guard she didn't know what to say. "What?"

"Besides the fact that he's no longer devoting all of his free time to stalking you, what is it about James that makes your heart beat wildly, or whatever?"

"Well it's probably his… er. Or maybe the fact that… um. Well, he's more mature this year isn't he?" It sounded stupid, she knew. What could she say?

Dany shook her head in pity. "You don't even know do you?"

Heidi looked up from the pages of her book. "Stop with the interrogation Hilda. Lily obviously just hadn't thought about it much."

But the problem was, she had.

---------

Sirius had made up his mind. He was going to tell Lily how he felt. He finished his eggs (they gave him good luck, so he ate them every morning) and he inflated his confidence by thinking of all the ways she would respond. "Oh Sirius, I feel the same way!" "Oh Sirius, I knew there was someone out there who loved me!" and his personal favorite "Oh Sirius, you're so handsome and manly, I've loved you since first sight!"

He smiled and walked the corridors, wondering where she was.

---------

Lily walked inside. The peacefulness of the lake was ruined when Dany asked her what it was she liked about James. It really shouldn't have been that difficult. She knew she was attracted to him, she knew that she wanted his attention again, but she had no idea why it was.

"Lily!" She turned around and saw Sirius running towards her.

"Yes Black?" Lily tried to be nice, but her patience was wearing thin.

"I wanted to talk to you about something." He grinned confidently. Maybe he noticed progress with James?

"Yes Black?" Lily repeated.

"Right. About that kiss we had last night." Yes! This definitely had something to do with James! "You can't deny that it was pretty good. Even by my standards." What was he talking about? "I was just thinking we could make our relationship a bit more real." _Oh my god._ Lily's stomach dropped. She had to get out of there.

"I need to-er. Oh look at the time! I really need to jet!" She ran away, climbed inside the portrait hole and sprinted to the safety of her dorm room. She was so relieved to find that she wasn't the only one in there.

"Oh Heidi! Thank GOD! Si- where's Dany?" Heidi shrugged and returned to clipping her toenails.

"Are you going to tell me what's up?" Heidi asked.

"Well, apparently that kiss Sirius and I shared last night has made Sirius want the real thing."

"Only you," Heidi said giggling slightly "Would be able to make the two most popular guys at Hogwarts fall in love with you. Not to mention that greasy Snape fellow who's loved you for years." Heidi then collapsed into a fit of giggles that made Lily turn red. "Who else have you snared inside your trap?"

"This is NOT funny!" She exclaimed, waving her arms around for emphasis. "How am I supposed to get out of this mess?"

"I have no earthly idea. What did you do once Sirius poured his heart out to you?"

"I told him I had to run. And I did run. I ran all the way to the dormitory and never looked back."

"I'm going to go find Dany. You stay here." Heidi turned and ran down the stairs.

Lily lied down on her bed. The whole thing took more than she was capable of giving. She was skipping out of her Head duties, she was doing worse in school, she hardly ever had time to spend with her friends and instead of making James jealous, she ended up making Sirius fall for her. She hoped that the outcome would make all this seem worth it, but she couldn't be sure.

---------

Remus was exhausted and weak. Full moon was that night and he would have made a clever pun about it being on Halloween if he had the energy. He knew his friends would remember all about the events that were to happen that night, but just to make sure he set out to remind them. The first person he encountered was Peter.

"Hey Wormtail, don't forget about tonight." Peter nodded.

"I'll be there, no problem." He squeaked.

Remus walked along the corridors wondering where Sirius and James were. James had been so weird lately, and Remus wasn't able to extract the reason from either him or Sirius. Not that Sirius had been extremely normal those days either. He wondered if the two had a fight over Lily again; he had thought that Prongs had forgiven Padfoot, but he wasn't sure. _ I think I'll just go back to the common room and notify them when they get in there. _Unfortunately, however, upon reaching his destination, he fell asleep in an armchair and didn't wake up until quarter to seven, and he had to hurry onto the grounds to beat the sunset.

-----------

A/**N: Man, I just love writing what goes on inside people's heads. It makes me feel so powerful, like I can make them do whatever I want them to with the touch of a button **_**and**_** I can announce their thoughts to the world! I'm trying to write as many chapters as possible before I take off for a weeklong Thanksgiving vacation. I've done a chapter a day since starting the story so you best get used to the change! Cheers!**


	8. Wounded

**A/N: I'm so sorry that I'm late getting this in. I'm coming down with the flu and fell asleep without writing a chapter! I'll make it up to you guys somehow. **

Peter shivered and looked up at the castle. Where were the rest of the marauders? The sun was setting and the moon would be out soon. He would _not_ be able to do this alone. He scratched behind his ears. He had already transformed and was simply scratching to entertain himself.

Remus came running down the steps and towards the tree. "Wormtail? Padfoot? Prongs?" he begged, looking into the shadows for his friends. Peter scurried over to his foot. "Wormtail. Do you know where the others are?"

Peter looked up at him sadly. They had never missed a full moon before. Peter noticed that the moon would be up soon, so he quickly ran up to the tree and pushed the knot. Remus went through the hole and down the passage and Peter assumed that it would be best for him to wait outside. He assured himself that it wasn't because he was afraid of being alone in a boarded up room with a werewolf, but because he was looking for James and Sirius.

But they never came.

---------

James ended up spending most of the day and night exploring hidden, dusty corridors. He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not know the time. He never noticed his hunger or his thirst, but his fatigue got him in the end. He walked back to the head's dorm, surprised to find no one walking the halls. _Is it really that late? _He asked himself.

He walked into his room and collapsed upon the soft mattress. He rolled over to observe the time listed on the clock. _4:48?! No wonder the corridor was empty!_ He fell asleep, without looking out the window, where he would have been able to see two figures walking slowly towards the castle.

---------

Sirius was confused. Why had Lily run out on him? Surely she wanted him! He had never met a girl who didn't. He sat up in bed. His attempt at sleep was futile. He refused to think that she had rejected him. _Maybe she was so shocked she simply had to run! Or, maybe she really did have to leave. _Those positive thoughts helped him drift off to sleep.

---------

Dany was winning a wizard chess game against Brea for the first time, when Heidi came downstairs and dragged her up the stairs. "What the heck? I was finally winning!"

"Whatever. Lily has something to tell you and I doubt you want to miss it." All thoughts of chess left her mind. Her need for gossip was insatiable.

"Let's go then!" Dany practically ran up the stairs.

--------

Lily had just finished retelling the story for Dany. She prayed silently that she would have a solution, and luckily, she did.

"Well you have to say yes."

"What?!" That was not the answer she had been expecting.

"If you don't, then he will be mad and hurt and whatever. Then the plan would have been a total waste." She was giving Lily that look as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And plus, the plan might work even better because he won't be acting anymore. It'd just be natural."

Dany was making sense now. Lily looked to Heidi for a second approval, only to find that she had fallen asleep leaning against Lily's headboard. "Thanks so much for your help Heidi." Lily whispered, then looked at the clock. "4:48! No wonder she fell asleep!"

"Yeah, I'm going to bed. And you're going to tell him tomorrow right?" Dany got off the bed and stretched. Lily nodded and fell asleep right on top of her covers, school robes and all.

---------

Once Remus woke up he winced and grabbed his side. He looked down and saw a particularly bad bite that was bleeding through its bandage. Madam Pomfrey walked out of her office and straight towards him with a roll of bandages and her wand.

"These are some bad bites Mr. Lupin. It's a good thing that you came straight to me instead of letting these wounds get infected overnight." She removed his previous bandage and he almost cried out in pain.

"I've had worse. I've always come straight here Madam Pomfrey." He smiled and Poppy glowed. She treated Remus as a son. "I didn't have any visitor's when I was asleep did I?"

"Oh yes, that boy Peter brought you in and stayed for awhile."

Remus frowned. James and Sirius did not show themselves at all through the night? He tried to remember what happened the night previous, but all he could remember was waking up and leaving the castle. Everything else was fuzzy.

"How long do you think I'll be in here this time?" He asked.

"At least a week. These wounds are messy and I need to clean them before I heal them, and then you need to rest up." She went back to her office and brought out a sleeping draught, saying he would want to be asleep for the disinfecting.

Remus drank without a word and then he gently drifted off to a deep and dreamless sleep.

---------

James woke up and padded around his bedside table for a minute looking for his glasses and wand. Having found them both, he dressed and prepared for an average Monday morning.

He was exhausted from his lack of sleep but made himself stay awake. He drank three cups of coffee and figured that that would be enough to keep him wired until lunch. He didn't notice Nova sit down beside him and rub his shoulders, and he jumped, spilling coffee all over himself. As he cleaned up the stain with a banishing spell, Nova hugged him.

"Happy belated Halloween. I looked everywhere for you yesterday."

"Oh, I wasn't feeling well. I took a trip to Madam Pomfrey." He lied simply.

"It's too bad. There was a lovely full moon last night." She said dreamily.

"What? A full moon?" He jumped again, this time from the table. "I'm sorry Nova, I'll see you later. Save me a seat in Transfiguration." Then he ran off towards the hospital wing. Leaving one ticked off Nova in his wake.

---------

Lily walked down the staircase, relieved to find Sirius at the bottom.

"Sirius!" She called. "I was trying to find you yesterday after I met up with Heidi. I need to tell you something." Sirius' face lit up. "I wanted to say, yes. Yes we should definitely make our relationship more realistic." She hoped her voice sounded flirtatious, not nauseous.

"Yes! That's amazing then isn't it." He responded with a smile. "Shall I escort you to breakfast then?" As Lily gave him her arm James came running down the hallway.

"Sirius!" James gasped, breathless. "Last night was a full moon."

"What?!" Sirius shouted. "Lily I have to go. I'll meet up with you later." He ran down the hallway. Lily was confused. What did a full moon have to do with anything? James faced her and the two locked eyes. _His eyes._ They were a glorious shade of amber. She wanted to get lost in them forever, but unfortunately, forever was cut short when James took off after Sirius.

She swayed where she stood and leaned against the wall, feeling very much like a silly schoolgirl with a silly schoolgirl crush.

---------

Poppy was gently swabbing clean a gash on Remus' shoulder when Sirius and James came rushing into the hospital wing. They immediately ran to Remus' side and stared at him. "May I help you boys?" She asked, without moving her eyes.

"Is he okay? Is there anything I can do to help? How long will he be in here? What happened to him? Is he unconscious?" The questions were flying at her before she could answer them.

"He will be fine, the only thing you can do to help is leave him alone, at least a week, none of your business and no, he's sleeping." She answered the questions and shooed them away. _Nosy little twits_.

---------

Transfiguration couldn't hold Sirius' attention. His thoughts kept wandering to Remus in the hospital wing and to a certain redhead sitting beside him, taking notes. When McGonagall mentioned something about the difficulties of transfiguring a smaller object into something larger, he was mentally kicking himself for not keeping up with the moon schedule. He had done so well last year, never missing a single one, but this year he had seemed to lose his touch.

"I will assign you to a partner, and you two will turn a rat into a good-sized desk. Johnson with Cabot, Winthrope with Laurel-" McGonagall read off, stopping when Dany raised her hand. Minerva raised her eyebrows.

"Excuse me, but which one do you mean?" Dany asked, pointing to herself then to Heidi.

"You Hilda." Dany looked murderous at the use of her real name, but followed instructions anyway.

"Winthrope with Laurel, the other Winthrope with Crisaf, Black with Lupin-" Minerva was cut off again. "Yes Mr. Black?"

"Remus is in the hospital wing."

"Of course. How could I forget?" Sirius was surprised. He didn't know that McGonagall knew about Remus' furry little problem. "I shall pair you with Pettigrew then." She read off a few more names, pairing Lily with Nova and James with Matthew Smith.

Sirius ended up having to do most of the work, as Peter was quite squeamish transfiguring rats. Sirius didn't blame him. He wouldn't want to transfigure dogs. In the end he managed to have a thin, short gray desk. It wasn't his best work, but he blamed it on his lack of concentration.

---------

Once Lily heard her name called to work with Nova, she immediately wanted to sink into her seat and disappear, but unfortunately Nova came up to her with one of those "I'm-superior" looks upon her face. But Lily didn't care. She stood up.

"Did you get the rat?" Lily asked her.

Nova made a face. "I'd rather not."

Lily sighed and went to retrieve the rodent. When she arrived back, Nova was smiling. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'll just try it and see what I make."

Nova sat back, satisfied. "Okay, I'll just sit here then."

--------

Remus had three more days until he was released from the hospital wing. James and Sirius had apologized to him more times than he could count, and he forgave them, but he still felt a little betrayed whenever he thought about it.

He was finishing his make-up essay for history of magic when someone spoke to him. He turned and a girl was smiling at him. "Hi." She said again.

"Oh hey." Remus said back, then returned to his work. It was a girl named Kayla from Hufflepuff.

"I'm Kayla." She offered.

Remus reluctantly put down his essay and turned back to her. She obviously wanted to make conversation, and he didn't want to be rude. "Nice to meet you. I'm Remus."

She squealed. "I know."

"Right." Kind of weirded out, he picked up his work again.

"What happened to you?" She asked, excited.

"Er- a dog bit me." It was close enough to the truth.

"Wow." She said. Staring at his wounds.

"Yeah, okay. I think I'm going to go back to my work now, okay?" He asked gently. Not wanting to offend her.

She stiffened. "Fine." Remus thought she reminded him of one of Sirius' stalkers. It was going to be a long three days.

---------

**A/N: I'm really sorry again about getting this late, guys. Tomorrow's Saturday so I might get to write some more while I'm indisposed, I **_**might**_**. We'll see.**


	9. Revenge

**A/N: It's 11:30 at night and I can't sleep. Blame my noisy heater for crappiness.**

"Good morning Remus." Came a sugary sweet voice from overhead.

Remus jumped at the sound and opened his eyes, finding Kayla inches away from his face. "Erm. Good morning?"

"Kayla! Get back in your bed! You know not to walk on your feet!" Poppy called from her office. Remus looked down at Kayla's feet, they were a sickly green color and covered in boils.

Kayla must have noticed him looking. "Some Slytherin considered it to be a funny joke. I don't really know why. Madam Pomfrey doesn't know what to do about it because she's never seen much like it."

Remus nodded. It was way more than he wanted to know. "You should probably listen to her." He wanted her out of his face as soon as possible.

"Bah. Who wants to listen to that old lady?" Kayla said.

"She's in her late thirties; that's not exactly old." Remus argued.

Kayla looked injured as she sat down. "Whatever."

Remus ate his breakfast and Madam Pomfrey came out to give him his medicine. "Two more days." She reminded him and returned to her office.

Kayla turned back around. "Can I see that bite on your upper shoulder? It's pretty hot."

Remus shuddered and ignored her. _Two more long, long, long days. _

---------

James had decided he had been ignoring Nova for too long. So after class he met up with her.

"So what do you want to do?" He asked her.

"Hmm. Let's go out by the lake." She smiled.

They walked down to the rocks and sat on them. "I'm really sorry that I've been so distant lately." James apologized.

"It's fine don't worry about it." She replied, waving off the apology.

James relaxed a bit. Lily was a part of the past. Nova was now. He had to enjoy the time they spent together. They were talking until a cloud blew over and it started to drizzle.

"Damn." James muttered, looking up at the graying sky. James jumped off the rock and Nova followed suit. They ran up the hill until James slipped in mud and slid down.

"James!" Nova called out, laughing. She slipped too and they both ended up in the mud laughing hysterically.

---------

Lily walked triumphantly up to Dany. "His eyes." She told her.

"What?" Dany looked confused.

"You asked what I liked about James, it's his eyes. They're gorgeous."

"Oh wow. 'Gorgeous eyes' that's original." Dany mocked. "That's what everyone says. 'His eyes were the perfect shade of blue, and I could see his sadness hidden inside them.' How can you even see emotion in people's eyes? I've tried, all I've ever seen are just eyes."

"That's not what I mean!" Lily defended. "I just mean they're pretty!"

Dany clicked her tongue. "Everyone's eyes are pretty. Eyes are just pretty organs. And organs do not count for things you like about James. It's like saying 'Wow. I love James' liver. He has such a great liver.'"

"Shut up Winthrope." Lily stalked away. How dare she? _Maybe she's just in a crappy mood. _Lily washed her hands of the matter and went to go scold a group of third years for breathing.

---------

Lucy was sitting patiently listening to Nova carry on about her time with James. She wanted to sit with her own boyfriend during lunch, but there was no backing out on Nova, unfortunately.

"And then we slipped in the mud and laughed! He has the most wonderful laugh Lucy!" _Again with the laughter._ Lucy twirled her blonde hair around her finger looking around the room. She noticed Lily and Sirius sitting together. _They are the most awkward couple I have ever seen._ In fact it was almost suspiciously awkward. They had been dating since the start of school and Lily never looked as if she was truly enjoying dating the hottest male at Hogwarts. She nudged Nova with her foot, making her shut up.

"What is it?" She asked, angry with her for interrupting her story.

"The Sirius/Lily couple seems strangely fake to me. You don't think it's an act do you?" Lucy wondered.

"I don't care if it's false or not. As long as she's not chasing James, I'm fine with it."

"But what if Lily's trying to make James jealous by dating his best mate?" Lucy realized.

"Oh my GOD! Lucy you're absolutely right!" Nova exclaimed, dropping her fork and twisting around in her seat to see the Gryffindor table. "That bitch will _not _steal my boyfriend if I have anything to say about it."

---------

**A/N: Yes, yes. I put some Nova/James fluff in this. But I'm trying to make him a bit less angsty all the freakin' time. Don't eat me. The poor guy needs a break. I have to say Dany sounds a bit like myself up there. I honestly don't see emotion in people's eyes. I've tried and all I see are eyes. Facial expressions show emotion, body language shows emotion, tone of voice shows emotion, but eyes don't. Maybe it's just me. I don't know. Short chapter. I wrote two chapters in the same day! Hooray!**


	10. Scheming

**A/N: I'm sick, watching MTV, drinking tea, eating frosted flakes, emailing my friend, and writing this. Multitasking is pretty cool. **

---------

Remus was counting off the days in his head. _One more day, one more day._ He wasn't sure he could stand the confinement much longer.

"So you only have one more day until you leave me all alone." Kayla complained.

"You aren't the only one in here, you know." Remus replied. There was a 5th year with a broken collarbone, a 2nd year who lost his memory, and a whimpering 1st year who wouldn't say what was wrong with her or who did it.

"No one else is worth talking with." Kayla looked at him.

"Sorry about that, but I do have a life beyond the hospital wing, incase you didn't know."

"Oh of course I know that." Kayla glowed. "You're a marauder. What's it like to hang out with Sirius Black on a daily basis?"

"Ugh. You do know he has a girlfriend, right?" Remus was sick and tired of people asking what it was like to be in the presence of Sirius.

"Don't remind me. That Evans girl is not worthy of Sirius."

"Ehm, whatever." Remus tried to avoid her gaze, but she just kept staring.

"But what is he like?" She asked again. "Does he act as cool as he does in front girls? Or is he secretly sensitive and sweet?"

"I really don't want to answer that." Remus said and turned around from her. He ignored her attempts at apology and then he felt her put her hand on his shoulder. He felt disgusted.

"It's okay, Remus. I understand why you would be jealous of Sirius." She looked down on him like a teacher would look if they were predicting why a child bullies other children. "He's more popular than you, better looking, and he has more girls chasing him. But don't worry Remus. I'm here for you if you need someone to hold." She held her arms open as if waiting for him to jump into them and cry.

Instead he laughed. He laughed at the fact she thought he was jealous of Sirius, the fact that she thought he wanted people like her chasing after him, and he laughed at the fact that Kayla expected him to run into her arms.

"And what's so funny?" She demanded.

Remus made no response and simply wiped a tear from his eye and picked up a book from the table beside him.

---------

The first quidditch match of the season was the next Friday, and James was drilling his new team to exhaustion. He, himself, was sporting a black eye and a rather gruesome looking bruise growing on his left shoulder. Roy Johnson made a spectacular save and James cheered thinking that maybe, just maybe, Gryffindor might win the cup that year.

Unfortunately, however, Sammie was taking an extremely long time to find the snitch.

"Hurry it up Sammie!" James called. "It'll be getting dark soon!" He couldn't figure out how he had been such a fantastic seeker at tryouts, but started to suck once practice started. James was shaking his head in dismay when a bludger hit him hard in the back and almost knocked him off his broom.

"Sorry James!" Their beater, Becky, apologized, zooming past. James groaned and massaged his back. This practice was a disaster. He blew his whistle and dismounted his broom.

"Any chances of winning the match next week James?" Sirius asked him.

"Not one."

---------

Nova was warming her feet by the fire in the ravenclaw common room. "What we really need is some dirt on Lily," she lazily told Lucy, who was sitting beside her. "To teach her not to mess with me."

Lucy thought for a moment. "All I really know is that her parents died this summer."

"Who do we know that has information on everybody? There's got to be someone with all the gossip." Nova asked.

"That's easy." Lucy smiled. "Dany Winthrope."

---------

Lily soon found herself avoiding Sirius as much as possible. She was always trying to make up excuses and darting down hallways whenever she saw him coming. Plus, she feared that people had started noticing.

The other day a girl had walked up to her and started rambling about how she didn't care about Sirius. "You aren't worthy of him! He deserves better than tramps like you!" She had exclaimed.

Lily had walked away feeling worried. Dany and Heidi were getting sick of hearing the same complaints everyday, and she knew it. McGonagall was getting onto her about her failure to do her Head duties, and then the other day she started writing a letter to her parent's before she remembered. She had then collapsed and sobbed until Dany found her and cheered her up.

She walked up to the common room and looked at the bulletin board. There was a paper there announcing a trip to Hogsmeade that Saturday. _It's about time! We haven't had a Hogsmeade trip yet this year have we? _She was reading the other messages when she felt someone walk up beside her. She turned and saw James there.

"Oh hey James." She breathed.

"Hey Lily." James said stiffly, without looking at her.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend." Lily said, hoping to make conversation.

"Yeah, Remus should be out of the hospital wing by then."

"Why was he in there in the first place?" Lily looked up at him.

"He, er, got bit by a dog." He stammered.

"A dog at Hogwarts?"

"Yes. Look, I have to go." James walked off. "See you later Lily."

A moment later, Lily felt a presence beside her again, and she hoped it was James coming back, but found out it was Sirius instead.

"Lily, it would seem you've been avoiding me a lot lately." Sirius said coolly, leaning against the wall.

"What? Of course I haven't." Lily lied.

"All right then." He said. "How about you meet me by the Transfiguration room at 7:00 this evening?"

Lily felt revulsion rise in her throat. "I have Head duties tonight, and I'm afraid I cannot switch them."

A look of anger and disappointment seemed to have passed over his face, but he quickly replaced it. "Whatever Lily. I'll talk to you later." And he stalked off. Lily sighed. She knew she only had a small amount of time before Sirius broke up with her, for real and fake. She also knew that she was out of ideas.

--------

Nova walked up to Lucy holding a small vial in her hand. She stared at it for a while before she spoke.

"What is _that_?" Lucy finally asked.

"Just a little something to get our dear friend Dany, to… loosen up her tongue."

Lucy groaned. "I swear if this is illegal…"

Nova just smirked as she began to tell her plan.

---------

**A/N: Short? Yes it was. I'm drained and losing my creativity along with my remote control. Which is probably lodged in between the couch cushions, I'll bet. If enough of you review, I'll make the next one longer. I shall now put a curse on all silent readers!**


	11. Butterbeer

**A/N: Does anybody even read these? I suppose I'm just sort of talking to myself then…**

---------

After taking a step outside after breakfast, Heidi hurried up to her dorm to add more layers. She pulled on a sweater, a jacket, a scarf and a hat because the weather was freezing. When she was finished she hurried down the steps and bumped into a short, plump girl standing there.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Heidi rushed.

"It's okay," the girl looked distracted.

"Are you looking for something?" Heidi asked.

"Someone." She nodded. "Do you think that if you see Remus that you can tell him I'm looking for him?"

"Sure. And, I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?"

"Kayla Venson."

Heidi nodded and hurried down the steps to meet up with her friends, but she couldn't find them in the crowd. _Where are they?_ She decided to wait in The Three Broomsticks because everyone went in there at some point during the visit.

--------

Lily felt awful. It was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year and she had to spend it with Sirius. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure out a way to worm out of it.

"Where do you want to go?" Lily asked him, hoping he would say The Three Broomsticks so that she at least wouldn't have to worry about being alone with him.

"Three Broomsticks sounds good, do you think?" Sirius sounded as if he was trying really hard to make the date work.

Lily breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, sounds great."

---------

Dany found herself walking with Brea because Lily was with Sirius and Heidi was nowhere to be found.

"I'm thinking about breaking up with Thompson." Brea sighed.

"Why? You guys look good together." Said Dany.

"I dunno. I really think I want to see how things would go with Toni." She replied. "He's such an awesome guy."

"Yeah. You should." Dany nodded. "I think I'm going to go warm up in The Three Broomsticks. Talk to you later?" She ran off before Brea could make her swear to the dreaded 'you won't tell anyone one else, right?' promise.

---------

Heidi walked into the pub and immediately took off her hat and scarf. The warmth made her eyes water. She blinked and looked around for someone she knew. When she couldn't spot Lily or Dany she started to walk around the room. In the back she found Remus and Peter sitting at a table drinking butterbeers and she decided to go ahead and deliver her message for him.

"Hey Remus" She called sitting down. He looked up at her and smiled.

"Hey Heidi."

"Some girl named Kayla Venson wanted me to tell you that she's looking for you." She said.

"What?! When did she get out of the hospital wing?" He looked frantically around the room.

Heidi laughed at his discomfort. "She didn't follow me to Hogsmeade. I think she stayed in the castle."

Remus breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin. There's only so much of that girl I can take."

"Why don't you like her? And why was she in the hospital wing?" Peter asked, speaking for the first time.

"She got hit with some nasty curse that turned her feet green. And we happened to be in the hospital wing at the same time, and I'm her new favorite marauder or something." Remus put his head down on the table. "She's worse than a stalker."

Heidi laughed again. "She seemed like a Sirius type of girl to me when I saw her."

Remus raised his head "That's what I thought too, until she kept thinking I was jealous of him and that I needed a hug." He laughed this time. "How am I going to avoid her if she can walk again?"

"Good luck with that." Heidi giggled. "I see Dany over by the entrance. See you later guys."

---------

Nova was clinging to James' hand as if afraid he would run off.

"Where do you want to go Booh Bear?" Nova asked.

"Want to warm up in The Three Broomsticks?" He suggested.

"Ummm… It will be way too crowded. Let's try somewhere else." She led him down the street. "Perhaps that candy shop? What's it called again?"

Nova didn't wait for an answer because she began kissing him out of the blue and James was a bit surprised. He never considered her to be a PDA type of girl.

When she pulled away she shot a satisfied smile in the direction of someone and when James looked to see who it was, he saw only Sirius standing there looking as confused as James felt.

---------

Lily ran as fast as she could back to the castle and to the only place she could think of that no one would look for her; the Head's dorm. She had told practically everyone she knew that she didn't like having to live in her own room after sharing a dorm with her friends, and she hoped the message had gotten around. Luckily, James had not changed the password, but she barely took notice as she ran up to the steps of the staircase labeled "Head Girl" and burst into a bedroom.

She then collapsed onto the bed and sobbed.

---------

Sirius stood there lost for a moment wondering where Lily went. They had been walking to The Three Broomsticks when they saw James and Nova snogging. When they stopped, Nova smiled at Lily and Lily took off running towards the castle. The only explanation had to be that Lily ran because of the kiss, but she was dating him wasn't she? His head hurt too much, so he went to drink a butterbeer and forget about the whole thing.

---------

Dany was sitting up straight in her seat with her legs crossed and a broad smile across her face.

Heidi stopped in her tracks and wondered what that could mean. "What's up with you?" She asked aloud.

"What's up with you and Remus?" Dany responded with a question. "I saw you two sitting nice and cozy, chatting up a storm."

"What? There is absolutely nothing going on between us. I just had to deliver him a message from some girl."

"Ooh. Some girl huh? Not jealous are we?" Dany pressed.

"Hardly. It's this Kayla girl that's stalking Remus." She frowned. "He finds her very annoying I'll have you know."

Dany just smiled and sipped some tea.

"Honestly!" Heidi exclaimed. She hated that look that Dany gave her whenever she suspected she had a crush on a guy.

"Oh, you know you two would make a cute couple." Dany laughed. "The two sensitive bookworms, how classic."

"Just like you and Sirius would go great together. The two idiotic arses, how nauseating."

"Ouch." Dany placed a hand over her heart. "You seem to be getting a tad defensive. Am I hitting too close to home?"

"Shut it Hilda." Heidi said icily. She decided she'd rather face blistering cold than her sister's accusations and marched out of the pub and towards the castle.

---------

Lily woke when she heard someone moving about the room. She must have fallen asleep crying and when she looked over to the fireplace, she saw a house elf there stoking the fire. She looked about the room and saw it was spotless even though no one lived there. The thought of the house elves taking care of an empty room made her want to cry again and the house elf turned around and saw her.

"Twinkle is very sorry for disturbing miss!" She squeaked and then disappeared.

Lily felt terribly lonely and got up from the bed. She looked about the warm room. It had a Gryffindor theme and Lily guessed that it probably changed yearly based on the Head Girl's house. She sighed and walked slowly down the stairs. Down at the bottom, sitting in an armchair, was James.

"Hey Lily." He grinned.

Lily turned pale at the sight of him and she wanted to run back up the stairs.

"I thought you said that you didn't stay in the Head's dorm?"

"No, I don't." Lily said quietly. "I was-um- thinking about what it looked like, so I decided to come see it."

"Have you been crying?" James held up her chin in his hands.

"Of course not." She snapped. "I have allergies."

James raised his eyebrows. "Why weren't you at Hogsmeade?"

"I was. I just got cold." She lied.

"Okay Lily. Whatever you say." And he left up the stairs to his room. Lily wanted nothing more than to chase after him and wrap her arms around him, but she bit back the urge and exited through the portrait hole.

Upon leaving she saw Severus Snape coming down the hallway. She hoped he hadn't noticed her and started to run away but he called her name.

"Lily!" He yelled.

She turned around. "Severus."

"Lily, are you really dating that detestable Black?"

Lily felt impatient. "Yes. We are dating and we're perfectly happy together." And she twirled around and started down the corridor, not hearing the quiet sigh coming from the boy behind her.

---------

_This is the day; the first quidditch match of the term. _James was a nervous wreck and was walking around the dressing room yelling at people to hurry up and meet in the corner for the game plan.

"And Sammie, please, please, keep it fast with the snitch." He said, ending the pep talk. "Alright team. Let's go!"

----------

If it was the trip to Hogsmeade was cold, it was nothing compared to the weather that day. Dany was so bundled up that some people might have assumed that she was taking a trip to the arctic. In fact, it was starting to get hard to move her arms. As she made her way to the quidditch pitch, the frosty air was biting at her face and she almost wished that she had brought a ski mask.

She could feel the excitement in the air. Fans were cheering loudly and screaming the name of the house they wanted to win. Soon the Hufflepuff team streamed out and the school cheered. Shortly after, the Gryffindor team was exiting the dressing rooms and Dany nearly screamed herself hoarse.

Of course, after the snitch was released, she lost focus.

Someone screamed something about Sammie spotting the snitch and she started paying attention to the match. He had indeed seen it and had zoomed off chasing it and amazingly caught it ending the game at 160-20 Gryffindor.

---------

Heidi had to admit it; the marauders could throw a pretty amazing victory party. There were insane amounts of food and drinks and the atmosphere was euphoric. She found her feet leading her to where Remus sat arguing with Sirius about something.

"Honestly Sirius. You don't think it's a bit graphic?" Remus asked.

"Nonsense. It is a wonderful display describing our spirit and victory." Sirius replied, nonchalantly. The item in question happened to be a crude drawing of a lion eating a boy dressed in Hufflepuff colors. There were large amounts of blood and Heidi felt disturbed looking at it.

"I'll have to agree with Remus on that one, Sirius." She interrupted.

When Remus turned to look at her, his eyes softened and he smiled widely at her. She felt butterflies flutter like mad in her stomach. "Thank you Heidi." He said, and then turned to Sirius. "You see Sirius? That's two to one."

"I can argue that." Sirius pulled two girls toward him. "Excuse me ladies, but do you like my drawing?" He indicated the picture.

One girl simply nodded at him with a dazed expression on her face and the other one looked jumpy. "It's fantastic!" The one with the twitch exclaimed.

Sirius released them. "Sorry Remus. It appears that you've been outvoted." Then he turned and walked away.

Remus sighed and looked back at Heidi. "I don't think he'll ever grow up, do you?'

Heidi couldn't find words to say, her tongue felt too big for her mouth.

"Heidi? Are you okay?" Remus asked her. And before she could stop herself, she kissed Remus full on the mouth.

---------

Dany was enjoying the party and dancing with herself when she spotted Remus and Heidi snogging in the armchair. She was soon absolutely beside herself with joy and a huge smile played across her face. She was humming a wedding tune to herself when she heard a voice beside her.

"Hey Dany." Dany turned and saw a girl she knew as Lucy from Ravenclaw. She was about to ask what she was doing at a Gryffindor party, before she remembered how popular she was.

"Oh hi Lucy."

"Here, have a butterbeer." Lucy offered.

Dany was feeling pretty thirsty so she took the beverage with thanks. When the drink touched her lips, she realized it didn't taste like a normal butterbeer. She decided that maybe her mouth was just dry and she drank more, but it made the room spin and she felt quite dizzy. She drank more trying to make it stop but it only made it worse. She leaned against the wall and she collapsed onto the floor, and that's all she could remember.

---------

**A/N: PDA public displays of affection, for those of you who didn't understand that bit up there. And yes I know, the whole idea of Remus and Lily's best friend going out is terribly overused, but I just couldn't resist! And as you can see, I did indeed make this one longer, 3 pages longer than usual, even though I only received 4 reviews for chapter 10. Review, you lazy elephants!**


	12. The Snow

**A/N: I was checking my email when Stolen by Dashboard Confessional came on iTunes and it made me want to write this chapter. I know its kind of old, but its one of my favorites. **

--------

Nova was angry, Lucy could tell. She was full of hate and angst but she was keeping her composure calm and cool. Lucy also knew that it was only temporary and that she would be rounding on her once they were in the safety of their dorm room.

She was talking to James, making up excuses for her absence during the majority of the party and Lucy wished she could escape from the fat boy next to her.

"You aren't in Gryffindor are you?" His breath smelled of something stronger than butterbeer.

"No." She graced him with a response.

"Then what's a Slytherin doing in here?"

Her lip curled. "I am not in Slytherin." She tried to walk away, but there was no room on the makeshift dance floor for her to exit.

"You seem like a Slytherin to me." He laughed.

"Yeah, okay." She'd had enough of this and forced her way out of the throng.

She pulled her way up to Nova. "Nova honey. We have to go back early remember."

Nova looked at her coldly. "No I don't."

_Shit, she's mad_. "Um, yes. We have our Transfiguration homework to finish."

"Fine." She stood up. "Bye James."

Once they were clear of any passersby Nova attacked. "That's all we could get out of her?!"

"At least it's something." Lucy offered.

"Something?! Now we're stuck with a drunk Gryffindor and sooner or later someone will figure out she's missing!"

"That's what that was?" Lucy didn't know the details of the plan.

"Of course it was!" Nova exclaimed. "What did you think it was?"

"I dunno, Veritaserum?"

Nova shook her head in dismay. "But the fact remains that she's near unconscious, probably puking all over the broom closet and all we got out of her was a confirmation that she's making James jealous!"

"Why don't we just slip her into the Gryffindor common room?"

"At least it'll clear our names for now." Nova settled. "Which broom cupboard was it again?"

"Like I would remember." Lucy laughed. "They all look the same."

---------

Lily didn't like large parties. The loud music and drunken people always sent her over the edge. She was walking to an empty seat when she noticed someone slumped on the floor. She went over them to see if they were conscious or not and when she saw who it was, she gasped.

"Dany?" Lily got down beside her. She knew that her friend lived for affairs like this, but she hardly became this intoxicated. Shot glasses surrounded her and the area smelled like firewhiskey.

A groan answered her and Dany opened an eyelid. "Lily! Having fun?" Her head was swaying dangerously.

"Oh God Dany. I've got to get you upstairs."

Dany opened her mouth to respond but she threw up all over herself.

"Hold on." Lily pressed Dany's palm. "I'm going to get Heidi and we'll get you out of here."

---------

Heidi could never remember a more awkward moment then when she and Remus broke apart from their kiss. They were both silent for a long moment before she averted her eyes, blushing wildly. Remus was the first to speak.

"Wow. Er. Do you want to talk?" His voice was stiff.

She nodded. "I'm sorry. I just, sort of, wasn't thinking properly." She made to get up, but Remus grabbed her hand.

"No! I mean- wait." It was Remus' turn to blush. And the two burst out laughing. Heidi laughed until she was crying and somehow ended up back in Remus' arms in the armchair.

They were having a comfortable conversation when Lily interrupted them.

"Heidi. You may want to come see this." Lily's face was pale and she didn't seem to notice who her friend was sitting with.

"Sure." She got up and Remus followed her. Once they reached where Dany lay, she cried out.

"Dany!" She was close to tears. "Oh God! Is she okay?"

Lily looked shocked at her alarm. "She's just drunk, Heidi."

"Oh okay." She relaxed a bit. "How are we going to get her upstairs?" She looked up at Remus.

"I have an idea." He said. "I'll be right back." He ran off towards the boy's dormitory.

He came back a minute later with a silvery cloak in his hands. He draped it over Dany's unconscious body and Heidi watched wide-eyed as her sister disappeared before her eyes.

"Invisibility cloak?" She asked.

Remus nodded. "Just promise me you won't tell James that I let you borrow it."

Remus carried the invisible bundle to the stairs leading up to the girl's dorm. He slid the cloak off of Dany and gave her to Lily, who then proceeded to pull her up the stairs with help from Heidi. Once they reached the 7th year room, they rolled Dany onto her bed and covered her with blankets.

Heidi relaxed and leaned against the wall.

Lily turned to her. "So you and Remus, huh?"

--------

The first snowfall of the year fell on December 3rd. The marauders were outside immediately after class acting like children on Christmas. James and Sirius were pelting each other with snowballs, Peter was making a snow angel and Remus was building a rather deformed snowman.

When it was time for dinner, the boys traded the snow for the warmth of the castle.

After dinner, James wandered around the corridors, snow-drunk and happy. He walked down the hall leading to the Head's dorm, where he saw Lily walking.

"Hey Lily!" He called feeling ecstatic at the sight of her.

---------

Lily was walking through the halls thinking about her parents when she heard James call out to her. A warmth spread up her body from her toes when she saw him standing there smiling at her.

"Hi James." She said when he reached her.

"I haven't seen you much this year." James said casually.

"I love you." Lily put a hand to her mouth. It just slipped out. She didn't know if it was true or not, but it _felt_ true.

James looked astounded. "What?"

Lily sucked up all the courage she had. "I think I love you, James."

They moved closer together until they were inches from each other's face. "Lily, I've loved you for years."

They were touching now. She put her arms around his neck and closed her eyes. Then-

"Get your hands off my boyfriend you bitch!"

Lily looked around in time to see Nova come sprinting towards her and push her away from James and against the wall. She heard James call her name but he sounded as if he got punched in the gut. Lily didn't care enough to find out who it was that did it.

"How dare you, you slut!" Nova was screaming curses at her.

Lily dodged a burst of yellow light that streamed from Nova's wand. Lily sent a disarming spell back at her, and then the two were in a duel.

---------

James had been shocked to see Nova attack Lily like that.

"Lily!" He had called, but then found that Sirius had delivered him a punch to the gut. "How the hell did you get here?" He asked him, breathless.

"What do you think you're doing with Lily? You bastard!" Sirius pushed him to the ground, and they fought, wands inches away, forgotten.

---------

Remus looked at Peter, wondering what to do. They had just finished dinner and Nova had joined them asking where James went, so they went out to search for him. And then they had walked in on James and Lily's close embrace and Nova and Sirius had attacked.

"Peter, I'll break them up, you go get help or something!" Remus rushed, running over to where the girl's were dueling. Unable to stop them, he hurried over to Sirius and James, failing to break them apart. McGonagall had come running with Peter behind her.

"What is going on here?" She demanded and the fighting stopped immediately. She led them back to her office and they sat there, looking like children that had been caught sneaking cookies out of the cookie jar.

"Would anyone like to tell me what happened?" Minerva didn't wait for an answer. "You two are Head students!" She pointed to Lily and James. "You two were fighting like rabid muggles!" She indicated Sirius and James. "You know that no magic is allowed in the corridors!" She yelled to Nova and Lily.

"Why'd you get McGonagall?" Remus whispered to Peter.

"You told me to get help." Peter argued.

"Not from someone that'll give them detention for the rest of the term!" Remus hissed back.

"Sorry." Peter shrugged.

Nova had broken down in tears and Sirius looked murderous. Lily and James had expressions of great regret etched across their faces and Remus wondered if he was allowed to leave. He ducked through the door and was relieved to find that no one protested.

He walked down the corridor where he met Heidi and Dany walking towards Gryffindor tower.

"Have you seen Lily?" Heidi asked him.

"She's in McGonagall's office." He replied.

"What? Why?" Asked Dany.

"It's a long story."

"We've got time." Dany crossed her arms.

---------

**A/N: Juicy, bitter drama. Here's proof that the story's progressing. **


	13. Recovering

**A/N: Writing this down fast. It's the last chance I'll get to update before I leave. Sorry!**

---------

Lily was experiencing so many mixed emotions; she felt her head was about to explode. First, there was guilt. She had practically cheated on Sirius and what she had done to Nova was unfair. There was also guilt at the fact that she dueled another student. _Over a guy._ She was Head Girl, she supposedly knew better than that. Second, there was bitter anger at the fact that they had interrupted at such an intimate time. Third, there was fear of what Nova would do to her. She didn't seem like the type to forgive and forget after their fight. Fourth, there was a bubbly, fluffy feeling of what had happened between her and James. They had nearly kissed. She had told him she loved him. _He told her that he loved her_. Then there was that accursed feeling of guilt again.

She wanted to be with him so bad it hurt. She wanted to kiss him. But they were in over their heads in this huge, tangled mess. James was dating Nova. Lily was dating Sirius. Lily knew that she couldn't just dump Sirius or his friendship with James would never recover. It would take time, loads of time. She couldn't help but think about how unfair the whole thing was. Surely her karma wasn't that bad. Granted, she had used Sirius to get to James. There was another surge of guilt for that. Granted, she had almost kissed a guy with a girlfriend. Granted, she was never one for volunteering or helping others. Stupid karma.

_Life's not fair._ She reminded herself. The image of having James so close, the feeling of having her arms on his shoulders, their lips almost touching kept haunting her. And that's when she collapsed in tears. She cried for life's unfairness, for the pain she caused Sirius and Nova, and for herself and how close she had come to happiness, before it was snatched away.

"Lily?" Heidi's voice was gentle.

Lily didn't look up. She stayed in her fetal position, shaking with suppressed sobs.

"Lily honey?" Heidi asked again, placing her hand on Lily's shoulder. "Remus told us what happened."

Lily looked up. She wiped her nose and tried to stop hiccupping. Heidi looked close to tears herself while Dany looked as if she needed to escape. Comforting people wasn't exactly her calling.

"Oh sweetie." Heidi cooed while pulling Lily into a hug. "We're going to need chocolate. Lot's and lot's of chocolate."

---------

Sirius didn't know what to name the feeling he was experiencing. He had never been cheated on by a girl, and most definitely had not been cheated on by a girl with his best friend. He wondered if this had happened before, if Lily and James had been going behind his back other times. It would explain why she had been so distant to him all that time. How could he have been so stupid?

No, James wouldn't do that. There had to be an explanation. He knew James. James was with Nova and he would never cheat on a girl. Maybe Lily had come on to him and they had just walked in at the wrong time. Relief washed over him, but so did regret. He and James had fought. Literally. He punched James in the gut, who punched him in the eye, and the whole thing got blown out of proportion. He had to find James and talk things over.

--------

Once again, screams could be heard from the dorm of the 7th year ravenclaw girls. Once again, all of the occupants but two evacuated from the room and into the safety of the common room. Once again, the scream came from Nova.

"I knew it!" She shrieked. "I knew she would steal him from me!"

Lucy sat there, unsure of what to do.

"I knew he would do exactly what she told him to like a lovesick puppy!"

Lucy nodded vigorously, hoping to help in some way.

Nova screamed again and collapsed under her pillow. "What curses should I give her that will teach her a lesson?"

"Is this even about James anymore?" Lucy asked quietly. Once Nova got the idea of revenge into her head, there was no getting it out.

"James? He cheated on me. I'm over him." Nova responded with a shrug. "But that blasted redhead will pay."

Lucy sighed. How could she find a way out of this mess?

"We need to think bigger than common schoolyard pranks." Nova smiled her cruel smile. "We need to think WWIII."

---------

James was lost. He knew he felt something for Nova. But what he felt for Lily was so much stronger. He knew that he belonged with her. What he had felt when they were together the other day felt so right that he knew he wanted more. Plus, she had told him that she loved him. And he loved her back.

He was mulling over this when Sirius came running into the Head dorm. James stood up.

"Sirius, I wanted to talk to you about yesterday."

"Me too James." The look on Sirius' face shocked James, he seemed almost, apologetic? "I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

James nearly fell back over. "You're sorry?"

"Yeah. Yesterday, Lily was hitting on you when we walked in. I didn't wait to hear the whole story; I just attacked." He really did look sorry.

James considered this. Sirius thought the whole thing was Lily's fault. It was a free ride to forgiveness, but no, it wasn't right. "No Sirius. It wasn't just Lily, I wanted it just as much, if not more. I wasn't thinking." He shook his head.

Sirius sank into a seat. "So I can expect that she'll be breaking up with me then?" Sirius finally said.

James cocked his head. "What?"

"Well, she'll obviously dump me for you."

"And you're okay with that?" James was shocked. It was almost too easy.

"I'll live. You've pined for her for years. We've been rocky for ages. And to be totally honest-" Sirius lowered his voice to a whisper. "The only reason we even started dating in the first place was to make you jealous."

"What?" That was unexpected.

"Yes. I was kind of disgusted by you and Nova, so Dany asked me if I was interested in breaking you two up." Sirius hung his head in shame. "And I said yes."

James didn't know what to think of this. He knew he should feel angry, but he wanted to hear the rest of his story.

Sirius checked James' expression then carried on. "Then Dany confessed to me that Lily was trying to make you jealous."

James almost laughed at that.

"Then, we had that fake kiss. You remember, the one with Peeves. Anyway, I started wanting more, and when I guess I asked Lily, she only agreed to keep the plan going. She never really wanted to go out with me for real." Sirius looked hurt.

"Wow." What more could he say?

"Am I forgiven?" Sirius begged.

"Am I?" James asked back.

Then they hugged. A short hug for the sake of still being manly, but it was brotherly all the same.

---------

Lucy hated sneaking, she really did. She also hated how the guy she was stalking smelled like tacos. She hated tacos too.

She wasn't really sure what she was doing or what it had to do with the revenge plan. Once again Nova had failed to give her details about the plan she was in on. She hated that as well.

The guy stopped to tie his shoe and she pulled herself from around the corner. She took the note from out of her pocket and placed it into his bag, taking care to being as silent and quick as possible. She darted down the hall and she released the silencing spell. Her work was done. Mostly.

---------

**A/N: Sorry to leave you on a slightly sour note, but that's all I could squeeze in before I gotta jet. Yes, yes it was a bit angsty. But at least Sirius and James forgave each other right? Anyways, I'll be back in a few days, so don't get your knickers in a twist. **


	14. Terrance Shortgrass

**A/N: I finally found the chance to write this. Sorry everybody, I've been swamped! So much to do, so little time, especially with the holidays coming up!**

----------

Lily woke up and pushed Heidi off of her and scooted past Dany's snoring form. Apparently they had all fallen asleep late the night before together on Lily's bed. She walked into the bathroom, where she took one look in the mirror and moaned. She looked like trash. Her eyes were puffy, her red hair was matted and knotted and she had chocolate around the edges of her mouth.

"What time is it?" Dany groaned from the other room.

She heard Heidi move and fall off the bed. "Oh no!" She wailed. "It's 11:30!"

"What?!" Lily ran out of the bathroom, ignoring her appearance. "Why didn't Brea or Amy or Alice or Jamie or someone wake us up?"

"I don't know!" Heidi said, throwing on her robes over her pajamas and running her hands through her hair. "Maybe they thought we were sick or something!"

"If it's already 11:30 and everyone thinks we're sick, then what's the rush?" Dany asked, lounging back on Lily's pillow.

"You can't be serious about skipping." Heidi dropped her shoe.

Lily pulled her toothbrush from her mouth. "What if they mention something important that might be on the NEWTs?"

"Look. You two look like you spent the night in the Forbidden Forest with a cold. You look like crap, I'm not going to lie." Dany said simply. "Someone will take notes for us and I am not going to say no to a couple more hours of relaxation." She raised her eyebrows invitingly.

Lily shrugged and plopped down on the bed next to Dany.

Heidi's face turned from defiant to shocked. "Lily!"

Lily looked at her. "I'm not going anywhere looking like this." She indicated the red blotches circling her eyes.

Heidi looked torn between staying and leaving. She bit her lip. "I'm going. Someone needs to take notes for you slackers."

"You may want to brush your hair first! I'm not sure if Remus will like your new hairdo!" Dany called before jumping onto her own bed.

Lily laughed as Heidi's ears went red. She soon fell asleep again, sleeping deep and dreamless.

---------

James was laughing at an extremely stupid and corny joke Sirius had made about McGonagall, just happy that they were all friends again, and that the tension was gone.

"You two do remember that you have your detentions with McGonagall tomorrow, right? I think it would be best if you laid off on your inane humor while you're stuck in a room with her for 4 hours."

"Lighten up, Moony." Sirius snorted. "I'm not really going to go ask Minerva what type of cat litter she uses."

"It doesn't make the joke any less stupid." Remus muttered. James had to agree with him there, it really wasn't all that funny. But instead of offering his input, he watched from the sidelines with Peter.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Must be furry little problem time soon, eh Moony?"

Remus muttered darkly and glared at him.

"Did you ever break up with Nova?" Peter asked James.

"Yeah actually. Last night after Sirius and I talked." James answered.

"What did she do to you afterwards? Do you think you'll still be able to have children one day?" Sirius joked.

"She actually didn't do anything, she just nodded and walked off." James sighed. "Should I be concerned by that?"

"Nah, you'll be fine. Girls do that all the time. Some junk about conserving their last bit of dignity or something." Sirius shrugged.

Suddenly the bell rang and they had to sprint down the corridor to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

James slid into his chair and looked around the room for some sign of Lily, he hadn't seen her all day and was worried that she had come down with something.

He caught sight of Lily's best friend Heidi and decided to write her a note.

"Sirius, I need a piece of parchment." He whispered, ignoring the professor's stern looks at their late entrance.

"Bugger off and get your own." Sirius muttered back.

James turned to Remus. "Hey Remus, can I get a piece of parchment?" Remus smiled and gave him one.

"Finally decided to take notes?" Remus asked, impressed.

"Not on your life." James pulled a quill and ink from his bag and began to write.

_**Where's Lily today?**_

He folded up the parchment and sent it flying towards Heidi. She unfolded it, read it and wrote down a response. Then she flicked it back to James.

**She's a bit under the weather. She'll probably be good by tomorrow though, so don't worry. **

James nodded to her and turned back to the professor, who was telling a rather gory tale about an imperiused hippogriff.

---------

Lily finally woke up again around 3:00 and washed her face and hair and dressed. Satisfied, she took the opportunity to finish her homework and tried her best to block out Dany's loud breathing.

She opened her potions book.

_Boomslang skin, though rare, has been known for its many magical properties. Known for its many magical properties. Magical. Properties. Magical properties. Boomslang skin, though rare. Known for its many._ She couldn't focus and she kept reading the same words over and over again.

She closed the book and looked about the room. She was too awake to fall back asleep, but too jumpy to read her homework. Lily stood up and decided that classes should have been over and she could walk around a bit. It would be the first time stepping out of her dorm since "the incident".

She shook Dany. A groan answered her and Lily whispered where she was going and left.

---------

Lucy sat and knocked her head against the wall out of boredom. _Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. _

"Will you stop that?" Nova hissed. "We have to be silent." Nova had been increasingly cold since that morning when James broke up with her.

"How do you even know she'll come?" Lucy was, as usual, left in the dark and had no idea what she was doing down a deserted corridor on a wonderful snowy day like that day was.

"Oh she'll be here." Nova whispered. Lucy rolled her eyes and twisted her head around the corner, looking for motion.

They sat there for a good thirty minutes before a red head came out of the portrait hole that led to Gryffindor tower. Lily hummed and waltzed down the hall and once she was past their hiding place Lucy leapt out, grabbed Lily's arms and before the girl could turn her head to see whom her captor was, Nova set lose the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder and the corridor went black.

---------

Lily had just walked out of the common room and down the hallway before she felt hands grab her arms and twist them around to her back. She was about to scream before the whole area went completely dark and she knew her efforts would be futile. Everyone would be outside enjoying the snow one last day before the sun came to melt it. If she could only get her wand…

No it was hopeless. She kicked her kidnapper in the shins but they didn't budge. Lily felt herself being dragged and thrown into a room of some sort. The door slammed behind her and she opened her eyes.

She was in a broom closet. And she wasn't alone.

Lily froze where she stood, sensing the presence behind her. She was thinking of her next move when she caught a whiff of ground beef and salsa and felt a human hand slide up her shoulder. Then she screamed.

She whipped around and found that her wand was luckily still in her pocket. She pulled it out and faced the man. She recognized him immediately.

"Hello Evans." Terrance Shortgrass' greasy voice filled the room and sent shivers down her spine. He was by far, the creepiest guy at Hogwarts. Terrance was a 6th year Slytherin infamous for his reputation of taking advantage of drunken girls at parties and personally spiking the punch for others.

She stepped back and found herself against the wall. He followed her steps and launched himself on her. She moved to the side and ran to the door. It was locked.

"_Alohomora_!" She screamed. "_Alohomora_! _Alohomora_!" The door wouldn't budge. Terrance was walking back to her again. She started banging on the door. "Help! Somebody help me!"

--------

Dany sat up. She had the sudden feeling of dread that something bad was happening, and she had to do something about it. She jumped up from the bed and started dressing.

--------

Lucy started worrying once she heard the screams coming from broom closet. Whatever they had done was much worse than she thought. _Calm down._ She told herself.

"Nova? What were the details of this plan anyway?" She asked coolly.

Nova smiled. "Well I wrote a nice little note to Shortgrass about a girl who was interested in him. So we just helped the two get together. They were obviously meant for each other."

Shortgrass. Where had she heard that name before? Of course! "Wait, you don't mean that perverted sleaze-ball who's molested nearly every girl who's touched a glass of firewhiskey?" She felt sick.

"And then some." Nova laughed.

Lucy felt sick and ashamed. "That's what that note was for! Your plan was to get him to rape Lily?!" She had never felt so angry in her life.

Nova clicked her tongue. "It needn't come to that if she just participates."

Something in Lucy snapped right then. "You dirty, two-faced bitch!" She shouted and pointed her wand at Nova's face. "_Petrificus Totalus_!"

Nova stiffened and fell with a sickening thump and a whimper. Lucy was shocked but stepped over her previous best friend to walked towards the door.

"_Alohomora_." She tried, but she knew it wouldn't work. She flicked through various spells in her mind, trying to think of a one that would work. Then she thought of the one they had practiced in Transfiguration that day.

"_Novus Ostium_!" She shouted and the wall transformed into a door. She pushed it open and ran inside. What she found inside shocked her.

Lily was curled up, whimpering in a corner and an unconscious Terrance laid upon the floor, half undressed and bleeding at the lip.

"Lily?" She asked quietly and walked over to her. She was, miraculously, fully clothed. Lily looked up at her and started crying. "Oh no. I'm going to go get help. Stay right here!" She ran out of the broom closet and straight into a tall girl with short brown hair and a shocked look upon her face. Dany Winthrope.

"Dany!" She exclaimed. "I need your help!"

Dany looked at her. Then at Nova's stiff body on the floor. "If I help you, do I get an explanation for this?"

"Of course! Its about Lily!"

"Lily? What's wrong with her?" Dany demanded.

"It's a long story. I'll explain later." Lucy had never felt so in control before. She felt free and heroic.

Dany nodded and Lucy led her into the closet.

"Oh!" She yipped at the sight of Terrance on the ground. "Oh!" She yipped again when she saw Lily. Dany ran to her whimpering friend and enveloped her in a hug. Lily sobbed into her shoulder and Lucy looked away, emotional moments were always awkward to her.

After a few minutes Dany was able to coax Lily into standing up and walking to the dorm. "Sit with us at dinner and give us the details." Dany told her as she and Lily exited the closet.

Lucy released the spell on Nova -who ran off immediately after dishing her an unpleasant finger sign- and took it upon herself to drag Terrance to the hospital wing.

"_Levicorpus_." She muttered and he rose into the air and trailed her as she walked to visit Madam Pomfrey. Luckily, Poppy didn't ask many questions.

With that done, she decided to walk outside and tell some people she knew to be friends with Lily the main idea of what had happened. And during her walk she thought of all the ways Nova would most likely get revenge on her. She'd get a new best friend, for those were easy to get when you were that popular, and the foolish girl would do her bidding making sure that Lucy would end up in the hospital wing, or worse.

_That immature prat_.

---------

James was just admiring his handsome snowman when Nova best friend, Lucy, came running out of the castle.

"What's up?" James asked. The other marauders turned to look at Lucy.

"Lily was attacked." Lucy breathed out.

"What?!" James roared.

"By Terrance Shortgrass." She nodded. James knew instantly what that meant and his stomach boiled with hot anger.

"Is she okay?" Sirius and Remus asked at the same time.

"He didn't get the chance to do anything because she knocked him unconscious." Lucy said.

James was only slightly comforted by this. "Where is he?!"

"The hospital wing. Like I said, he's un-con-scious." She said the syllables slowly as if he was deaf or stupid. James got more ticked off when Sirius started laughing. But she still couldn't stop him.

"He. Will. Pay." James muttered and started marching up to the castle blinded by rage.

Lucy stood in front of him and put a hand on her hip. "What part of unconscious don't you understand? It means he's knocked out, immobile, out cold, passed out and possibly comatose. Do you need a dictionary? A thesaurus perhaps?"

Now James was really angry. "I need you to get out of my way!"

Lucy raised her eyebrows. "Lily would want you to wait and do the sensible thing." This got him to settle down.

He breathed out. "Fine. Where is Lily? The hospital wing?"

Lucy shook her head. "She's in her dorm. But I don't think she's entertaining visitors."

"Alright." James was calm; he could do this for Lily.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find Lily's other acquaintances and inform them about what happened." She walked off.

Sirius burst out laughing once she was gone. "She served you, Prongs."

---------

Lily was doing surprisingly well, compared to what Dany had envisioned recovery would be like. On the walk back to the dorm, she had pictured Lily being scarred for life and never being able to talk to anyone again and throwing herself off the astronomy tower or something.

Lily had cried a little. Then she told her story. Then she cried a little more. She was just a bit shaken up, and she now had a minor mistrust of guys, but she was really doing better than she had expected.

"What's going to happen to Shortgrass?" Lily asked. Dany didn't know how to answer that.

"I don't know. Maybe expelled?" Dany offered. "I hope he gets the boot. The dirty bast-"

"Dany!"

"Well he is…" She trailed off.

Heidi finally came upstairs and gave Lily a hug. "Lucy told me what happened." Then she started crying and wailing about how awful it was and that men suck and all that.

Lily shrugged it off. "I don't know what to make of it. Someone obviously planned the whole thing. What with someone grabbing me and throwing me in the closet and the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder-"

"What?! Lucy didn't tell me any of that!" Heidi exclaimed. "This is so awful! Who would want to do this to you?"

Dany's eyes widened. "Nova?"

---------

Lucy went to the library, where she knew she wouldn't find anyone. She set herself in one of the seats and looked out the window. It was only a matter of time before everyone learned what happened to Lily, and worse, they would figure out that Lucy had helped make the whole thing happen. How could she be so stupid? She was so desperate to get in with the in crowd that she never considered what Nova was capable of making her doing. Lucy was never her best friend; she was her puppet.

She decided in the end that she would come clean to Lily at dinner that night. It would be better for them all if they heard it from her own mouth.

She pulled herself up from her seat and walked down the corridor to the Great Hall. She thought that some cool pumpkin juice would do her dry throat some good.

"Lucy!" A voice called from behind her. She spun around and saw Sirius Black striding towards her.

She quirked an eyebrow at him and kept walking. "Yes Black?" She asked without turning back around to face him.

"I saw you passing and decided to accompany a lonely maiden on her journey." He smiled at her. Oh God, this was all she needed, some random guy to flirt with her when she felt a migraine forming. His pick-up lines needed improvement as well.

"Where are your shadows?" Lucy asked him.

It took him a minute to understand what she meant. "I'm actually running an errand for them."

"Pray, don't let me hold you up." Lucy sided up against the wall and waved her hand as a sign for him to pass.

"They can wait." Sirius hooked his arm through hers. _What the heck_, She figured. _I could use the company_.

---------

When Lucy sat down across from Lily during dinner, she hoped no one would mind. Were Ravenclaws even allowed to sit at the Gryffindor table?

"You okay?" Dany asked her.

"I need to tell you the whole story about what happened." Lucy blurted out.

"We know it was Nova." Heidi said gently.

"Well, yes. But you should know…" Lucy bit her lip. When did telling the truth become so hard? "I helped. I was the one who grabbed Lily and locked her in the closet."

They just stared at her.

She breathed out slowly. "And I was the one gave Dany the spiked butterbeer back at the Quidditch party. She was trying to get blackmail on Lily from her."

They were still staring at her, listening. She almost wished they would yell at her.

"I thought Nova was my best friend. I thought the things she was making me do were the standards for best friends. You know all the stories about girls who are dumped by their boyfriends and the best friends team up and get revenge?" They didn't answer. She cleared her throat. "Anyway, I didn't think I was doing anything wrong at the time."

When they remained silent she continued. "Once I put Lily in the closet, I started wondering why I just locked a girl up in a random room for no reason. Then I heard Lily screaming and Nova finally told me the whole plan.

"I don't know, something just burst inside me and I cursed her and used that new door spell to get into the closet."

"What new door spell?" Heidi finally spoke.

"Oh, were you not there for that lesson in Transfiguration? _Novus Ostium_, new door."

Heidi glared at Dany. "I told you we'd miss something important."

Dany threw her hands in the air. "We were asleep during Transfiguration!"

This didn't seem to calm Heidi down much. "Still! This spell seems to be very important! This will definitely be on our NEWTs!"

"If it's anyone's fault, it's Lily's!" Dany defended. "She's the one we had to stay up 'till the wee hours of the morning comforting!"

Lily scowled. "I don't see how it's my fault. You didn't have to 'stay up 'till the wee hours of the morning comforting' if you didn't want to! I would have let it slide!"

"No you wouldn't have! You wouldn't have talked to us all day!" Dany shot back.

Lucy pursed her lips. Didn't they notice the condition she was in? They should be either soothing her doubts or cussing her out! Not ignoring her!

"Hello? Still sitting here." She said.

"Oh yeah." Dany noticed.

"So?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah?" Lily asked back.

All right, now she was pissed. Did they not care?

"So… Do you forgive me, or do you hate me or what?" Lucy asked, trying to hide her anger.

"Oh sure." Dany shrugged. "Whatever."

"Whatever?!" Lucy demanded. "You were drunk because of me! Lily was stuffed into a closet because of me!"

"Well we already knew you were friends with Nova. She was bound to make you help somehow." Heidi said simply.

Lucy was astonished. And mad. She had just poured out her heart to them and what do they do? They do _nothing._

---------

Sirius walked into the Great Hall and saw James, Peter and Remus sitting nearby.

"What are you loners doing in a corner?" Sirius asked, taking a seat.

"We're perfecting that stupid prank of yours for you." Remus responded.

"Operation Snivellus is _not_ a bad prank." Sirius snorted. "What needs to be fixed?"

"We could start with the name." Peter pointed out.

Sirius frowned at him.

"I don't see why we can't do the prank on Shortgrass instead." James muttered, clenching his fists.

"Do we need to get Lucy over here to define unconscious again?" Remus asked. James shot him a look.

"You know, Lily looks fine to me." Peter said quietly.

Sirius looked down the table and spotted Lily laughing with her friends and Lucy. "Let's go say hey." He said, standing up.

Sirius plopped down on the seat beside Lucy.

"How are you doing ladies?" He asked, grabbing an empty plate from the spot beside him and filling it with food.

James, Remus and Peter followed suit and sat around the girls. James across from Lily, Remus next to Heidi and Peter next to a very repulsed-looking Dany.

"Fine, thanks for asking." Lucy answered. She looked a bit stressed out.

"You're looking a bit stressed out." He said aloud, then wished he could take it back.

"Oh do I?" She quirked her eyebrow again.

"A bit." Sirius smiled.

"Well maybe I'll just go take a long, relaxing bath to calm down then, huh?" She said slowly and quietly. Wait, was she flirting with him?

Sirius only grunted in response, trying not to picture Lucy in a bath, _however wonderful that would be_. He thought silently.

She smiled and stood up. Sirius couldn't help but watch the sway of her hips as she walked out of the Great Hall.

---------

Lily felt herself blush when James took the seat across from her. It got her thinking. _Does he just want to look at me? Why didn't he sit down next to me? Does he not want to be too forward, or is he no longer interested? Or does he think that I won't want him touching me after what happened today? Or maybe what happened yesterday?_ She looked over at Heidi and Remus and saw how close the two were sitting next to each other. Heidi had her head on his shoulder. _Why aren't I resting my head on James' shoulder? Am I supposed to make the first move? Is he? _

Lily's head started hurting and she knew exactly what she would buy on her next Hogsmeade trip. Didn't books always have the answers? _I Lily Evans, need a romance novel. _

---------

**A/N: Boy oh boy! That was long! Just a gift from me to you for disappearing for a week. Happy belated Thanksgiving! Can I apologize for any mistakes? Since it's so long, I might have written 'to' instead of 'too' or 'there' instead of 'their' and didn't catch it. Please point out something if I need to fix it! I would love your input. Did I display an emotion wrong? Did I make a character act different from their usual personality? Did you hate it? Tell me. **


	15. Secrets

**A/N: I should definitely be doing something else besides writing this. Like homework, perhaps? Ah well.**

---------

_Okay, so maybe I did flirt with Sirius a bit_. Lucy contemplated as she climbed the stairs to Ravenclaw tower. _And maybe I did put a little extra swing in my hips just for him._ But what was the harm in innocent flirting? It was all in good fun, after all. Lucy hadn't flirted with anyone since Benjamin broke up with her a few weeks before and it felt good to act sexy once in awhile. And Sirius definitely made her feel sexy. Especially the way he stared at her while she walked out of the Great Hall, because she could tell these sort things.

When she opened the door to her dorm room, she wished she could turn around and run back out, for there on her bed, was Nova.

"Hello Lucy." Nova said too sweetly.

Lucy looked desperately for a distraction, finding none, she answered slowly. "Er. Hey Nova. Can I help you with something?"

"No. I'm fine." Nova replied curtly.

"Okay then." Lucy stiffened and walked towards the bathroom, but Nova stepped in front of her and raised her eyebrows.

Lucy sighed and decided to get straight to the point. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Excuse me?"

"It's obvious isn't it? I ticked you off, so your going to get a new beta and form some revenge plan against me."

"Revenge plan? Please sweetie, don't get your hopes up. You're not worth a whole revenge plan when I have all your secrets from over the years stored right up here." Nova put a finger to her head.

Lucy's eyes widened and she swallowed a gasp. How could she be such an idiot? Had she honestly trusted Nova with her secrets? She mentally kicked herself.

The motion didn't go unnoticed by Nova. She smiled wickedly. "How about if I scratch your back, you scratch mine?"

Lucy nodded slowly, horrified by the thought of her secrets escaping and wandering the corridors of Hogwarts.

"Alright. No one needs to know that I had some involvement in what happened in that broom closet. Correct?" Said Nova.

Lucy nodded again, unable to speak.

"As long as no one finds out about that, we'll be the only ones here that know about your father."

Lucy mentally kicked herself again. Had she really told Nova about that? She tried to regain her cool.

"Okay sure. No one will ever know."

"Glad we understand each other then." Nova smiled. "Oh and Lucy, no one needs to hear about this little chat, right?"

She walked out of the dorm, leaving Lucy alone. Whatever she had to do, she'd do it. No one would_ ever_ find out about her father if she could help it.

---------

"Smile gorgeous." Dany was telling Heidi at breakfast the next Saturday.

"I can't. I'm way too tired. I couldn't get to sleep last night. I couldn't light a lamp to read because I was afraid I'd wake up Amy." Heidi told her pancake.

"But today's a Hogsmeade day!" Lily said brightly.

Heidi scoffed. "Your just excited about getting your dirty novel."

"A _romance_ novel, thank you. I was also planning on buying your Christmas gift as well, but I may not if your going to act like this to me." Lily said sarcastically. Heidi knew that Lily would buy her a present no matter what she did to her.

She was about to open her mouth for a reply when Lucy sat down nervously in front of them.

"Morning Lucy." They all said.

"Er, yes. Good morning." Lucy was twiddling her thumbs. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "You guys don't plan on telling anyone that it was Nova and me that threw Lily into that closet, right?"

Heidi considered. "Not you, but definitely Nova."

Lucy bit her lip. "Do you have to? She was just angry, and she didn't mean it personally."

"'Didn't mean it personally.' Right." Dany laughed.

"Have you suddenly decided to team back up with Nova or something?" Heidi asked. After all that happened, she wasn't really going to back to her, was she?

"No, no. Of course not. But just give her a chance, you guys. She's really not that bad." Lucy argued.

"Why shouldn't we tell everyone? She convinced a guy to rape me." Lily frowned.

"Not so much convinced, as… suggested." Lucy said. "How would you like it if you made one mistake and everyone in the whole school hated you?"

Dany seemed persuaded for a moment before she spoke. "It seems like one huge mistake to me, but whatever. I won't talk." Heidi knew Lucy had won then. If she could convince Dany, it would convince everyone else.

Lily seemed torn. "Okay, fine. Her secret's safe with me."

Heidi sighed. She had no choice. "Alright. I won't spill."

Lucy smiled brightly. "Thanks so much you guys! I'll make it up to you somehow!" She stood up and ran out of the Great Hall.

Heidi turned to Lily and Dany. "I can't believe we just said that we'd let them get away with it."

Dany nodded. "That was so cheap! She used us! I say we tell someone anyway."

"You think we should?" Lily asked. "It just seems kind of like a stuck-up thing to do."

"What she did to us was kind of stuck-up too." Said Dany

"But if you're afraid of lying," said Heidi. "I crossed my fingers."

---------

As they walked down the path to Hogsmeade, Lily couldn't help but feel that they had done something awful by planning on telling everyone it was Nova who pushed Lily into the closet. Maybe it was because she had promised Lucy she wouldn't? But they weren't mentioning Lucy's name. So why did she feel a tug on her heartstring when she thought about it?

"Here's the bookstore, Lily." Dany nudged her in the ribs. "Want us to come with you?"

Lily thought about it for a moment. "No. You can take this as an opportunity to buy my Christmas present." She walked in. When she entered the romance section, some of the titles made her blush profusely. She read the summaries and realized she wouldn't be comfortable even taking them to the counter to be purchased. Could she find a single novel that wasn't what Heidi would consider "dirty"?

She bought one that seemed clean enough and ran out of the store, hoping the cashier didn't think she was some sort of tramp.

"Hey Lily!" Dany called, she and Heidi running to catch up with her. "Heidi did it. She told Remus. Who will surely tell the other marauders, and the story will have circled the school twice by dinner."

Lily's stomach gave a lurch, but she ignored it. "Now that we've got that over with, want to grab a butterbeer?"

"What about your 'romance' novel? Did you get it?" Heidi asked.

Lily blushed a little, but pulled out the book.

Dany laughed. "_Luminous Lust_?!" Lily hushed her, but the twins kept laughing.

"Oh grow up." Lily muttered as she pulled them into The Three Broomsticks.

---------

When Remus told James about Nova, he was beyond surprised. He never would have guessed that she would do something like that. Sirius had disappeared immediately to go spread the news and James was considering how much trouble he could get in by punching a girl. Deciding it wouldn't be worth it, he chose to go talk to her about it.

"Remus, I'm going to go find Nova." He told him and took off, ignoring Remus and Peter's protests.

He walked around awhile, before he found Nova walking out of a shop, laden with shopping bags.

"Nova. I need to talk to you." James said quietly once he reached her.

She smiled radiantly. "Yes James?"

"Is it true that you locked Lily in the closet and asked Shortgrass to rape her?" He felt his face flush with anger.

Nova's smile disappeared. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"I think you do. What's wrong with you?"

"I told you; I have no clue what you're talking about." Nova turned halfway around, before she twisted back to face James. "Who told you that anyway?"

"Remus."

"Who told Remus?"

"Heidi Winthrope."

"I hate that your friends are making up lies about me, James." Nova smiled sadly. "People get hurt like that." She walked past him and he let her go, knowing that he wasn't going to get the real truth out of her.

---------

Lucy woke up the next day and looked around her. Sandy lay snoring in the bed next to her, Margaret next to her, and Gina next to her. Nova's bed, however, was empty. Lucy looked to the clock beside her bed and was shocked to see the time was 6:33. Who would be up at 6:30 AM on a Sunday?

When she discovered she couldn't sleep any longer, she walked to the library to work on her Care of Magical Creatures essay. She ended up falling asleep on the library table and when she awoke, her watch told her it was 9:00 and she trudged down to breakfast.

Lucy was surprised to see that most of the school was up and eating. When she walked past a table she saw people turn to their neighbors and whisper. Concerned, she walked faster and saw, much to her dismay that others were whispering about her as well. _It can't be possible. We had a deal, she wouldn't tell anyone, unless- no. No, they promised they wouldn't talk. _Her brain was jumbling up her thoughts. She couldn't think straight. Everything was spinning. People were pointing. She sat down and put her head on the table. Everyone knew. Nova told them. Lily, Dany, and Heidi lied to her. Her life was over.

---------

When Lily walked down to breakfast that day, the air was heavy with the feeling of a big rumor. People were talking in hushed voices and looking around the corridors.

"Are people still talking about Nova?" Lily asked Heidi and Dany.

"Of course not." Dany snorted.

Heidi furrowed her brow. "Why not? This is big news."

Dany rolled her eyes in response. "Because there's bigger news that was released today."

"What is it?" Lily asked.

Dany laughed until she realized she was serious. "Didn't I tell you?"

Heidi and Lily shook their heads.

"Oh." Dany dropped her voice to a whisper. "Lucy's father died in Azkaban a few years ago."

"Wow. That's awful. But not exactly big if it was a few years ago." Lily stated. "Plenty of innocent people die there."

"It's big news, because no one knew. And it's also big because her father was a death eater. He was arrested for murder."

---------

**A/N: It was shorter than the previous chapter. Sorry, but most of the next chapters aren't going to be that big. Some of you are probably thinking that my story isn't progressing, but I swear it is. I just needed to write a chapter about what Nova does to Lucy, because she's not the type to let things go. I want to apologize that I haven't been doing daily updates anymore. I just don't have the time to sacrifice. But I'm trying my hardest!**


	16. Sven and Shasha

**A/N: Smile everyone! I managed to find the time to slap this down on paper:) **

---------

"Is it true?" A 4th year Gryffindor was asking Lucy once she finally got enough courage to pull her head out of her hands.

"Is what true?" Lucy asked back, even though she knew exactly what _it_ was.

"Was your father really a death eater?" The girls voice was filled with contempt.

"I have better things to do than answer your petty questions." She stood up and walked as fast as she could to the exit, trying to keep the tears from falling.

When she saw the Winthropes and Lily walking by, she broke into a run, trying to get back to the safety of her dorm before she burst into tears. In her haste, she bumped shoulders with someone but hardly noticed and kept running.

She didn't make it. Once she found an empty corridor she collapsed against the wall and slid onto the floor. And she cried. Not because everyone found out the secret about her family, but because she knew she couldn't trust anyone anymore.

---------

Sirius was going to breakfast by himself again. He had woken up early by the cries of his stomach and chose not to wake his friends. So he was walking with the rest of the early morning crowd when he felt someone run into his shoulder. He whipped around and saw Lucy sprinting down the corridor.

"Lucy!" Sirius called to her retreating figure. "Lucy!" She didn't turn around so he followed her. He watched as she collapsed against the wall and heard her gasping sobs.

"Lucy? Are you okay?" He bent down next to her. She finally looked at him and tried desperately to dry her eyes.

"What do you want Black?" She hiccupped out.

"What happened? What can I do?" He asked gently.

"Go away. Stop following me, you stalker." Lucy stood up and brushed the dust off her skirt.

"Can't I help you out at all?" He asked again.

"You can leave me alone." She jabbed and turned and walked bristly away. He thought about what she might do to him if he followed her, but he decided she could use some company.

His long strides overtook her short steps in a few seconds and he walked backwards in front of her. "What's this all about?"

"Oh really? You haven't heard?" Lucy snarled. "Why don't you go ask one of those wannabes back there? Surely they'll tell you everything." She tried to walk around him, but Sirius just kept stepping in front of her.

"I think I'd rather hear the whole truth from the victim."

"Well, maybe the victim doesn't want to talk about it." She stopped walking and leaned against the wall again.

Sirius didn't say anything just leaned against the wall next to her.

"My father was a death eater." She finally admitted after a minute or so. "He murdered an auror and was sent to die in Azkaban."

Sirius remained quiet and waited for her to finish.

"I was 10 when he was sent to prison. He wasn't really a bad dad. He was just always busy and he never really spent time with me. When he died in my 2nd year, I didn't tell anyone because I was afraid that people would automatically judge me for it before I had a chance to prove to everyone who I really was." When she faced him, her eyes were glistening with tears.

Sirius smiled. "Now this is something I can relate to." As he walked her back to her dorm, he told Lucy all about his family and everyone expecting him to live up to the Black family name.

When they reached the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room, he was just finishing talking about his brother Regulus.

"And I just know that he's going to become a death eater. Every time I pass him in the hallways, that gang surrounds him and they're talking about curses and torture. Snape and Avery and Mulciber and the like."

Lucy nodded. "Thanks Sirius. It's nice to know that there's someone here I can talk to." She kissed his cheek and darted inside the common room.

Sirius placed his hand were her lips had just touched and he whispered to himself; "That girl is a tease."

---------

"Are you serious?" Lily exclaimed. "That's awful! Who did he kill?"

Dany nodded. "An auror or someone. I don't really know all the details."

Heidi took a moment to let it all sink in. "You don't think it's awfully convenient for Nova? I mean, once everyone hears about how evil she is, bigger news just happens to come and distract everyone from her story?"

"You don't think she told everyone about Lucy's dad, do you?" Lily asked her.

"I dunno. That seems like a crappy thing to do to your best friend." Dany said.

"Maybe it was Nova's revenge for Lucy!" Heidi noted.

"But- what if," Lily stopped to think. "You know how Lucy came to us and begged us not to tell anyone?"

Dany and Heidi nodded.

"What if Nova was blackmailing Lucy!" Lily nearly shouted. "Nova told Lucy to stop everyone finding out about what she did to me and in exchange she wouldn't tell everyone about Lucy's father!"

"Oh my." Heidi whispered. "So its our fault."

"If we had kept our promise…" Dany drifted off.

Lily nodded affirmatively "We have to go find Lucy."

---------

Much to Nova's surprise, Lucy showed up to lunch that day. Even more shocking, she was laughing. Nova felt her fists clench up. Had the story not spread? No, of course it did. That was huge news. Did she not know about it? Yes, she did. Nova saw that girl come up and talk to her, and she saw how Lucy rushed out of the Great Hall. _Why don't any of my plans ever work?_ She rested her head on her hand.

She noticed that Lucy was seated with the marauders, laughing at something Sirius had said. She remembered what Lucy had told her back in their dorm that day. _"It's obvious isn't it? I ticked you off, so your going to get a new beta and form some revenge plan against me." _

_Am I becoming predictable? _Impossible. Just the day before, the entire school had figured out that Nova had ordered some guy to rape Lily. That proved to everyone that she was unforeseeable, right? She turned to her new best friend, Sandy Marphew.

"Am I predictable?" She asked her.

The girl looked up at her. "Of course not." Nova relaxed a bit then. Wait, what if she was lying?

---------

"Did you try talking to Lucy?" Lily asked Heidi after class.

"I tried, but she just ignored me." Heidi shrugged.

"But did you explain about how it was just a big misunderstanding?"

"Yeah. She wouldn't even look my way."

"Did you guys see how Benjamin smiled at me during lunch?" Dany asked dreamily.

"What?" Lily turned around to see that Dany was several steps behind them.

"Yeah. I turned and saw him looking at me, then he smiled." Dany grinned.

"Er, okay. That's great. But we have bigger things to worry about." Said Lily

"Do you think he likes me?" Dany asked. "He does have great hair."

"This is totally off subject, Dany." Heidi stated. "Can we get back to our previous conversation?"

"Mm? Whatever." Dany nodded and walked up to their pace again.

"Should we try again at dinner?" Heidi suggested.

"I suppose we might as well. What do you think Dany?" Lily answered.

"I wonder if Benjamin likes chocolate." Dany smiled.

---------

That night after dinner and an unsuccessful attempt at talking to Lucy, Lily pulled out her romance novel, went down to the common room and started reading. _"Oh Shasha!" Sven cried. "Your beauty makes the sunset envious! Your voice makes the birds jealous!"_

_"Sven, you shall never be more than a speck upon my boot to me. Leave me be and tend to your fowl!" _

_"I shall not give up my dear Shasha! One day you will love me!"_

Lily read the book surprisingly fast. Sven was apparently the farm boy on Shasha's family farm and he yearned after her, only to find her reject him, time after time.

"This Shasha girl is a jerk." Lily said aloud to her friends who were sitting beside the couch working on their homework. "Sven is being sweet and declaring his love to her, and she keeps breaking his heart!"

"Sound familiar, Heidi?" Dany asked her sister.

"Why yes, I believe it does." Heidi responded.

"What do you mean by that?" Lily asked, putting the book down.

Dany sighed. "James is like Sven, you are like Shasha."

Lily was hurt. "Oh."

"But don't worry about it." Dany smiled. "This book obviously has a happy ending." Heidi nodded. Lily seemed relaxed, until she finished the book.

"Sven ran off with a city girl!" She wailed. "And Shasha ended up living as an old spinster for the rest of her life!"

"At least it was a happy ending for one of them." Heidi interjected. "Did it at least tell you how to approach James?"

Lily stood up. "It told me that I shouldn't wait. I should take a chance at love and go for it."

Heidi smiled and checked her watch. "Guys, I got to go. I'm meeting up with Remus." Dany catcalled and joked, but Heidi just smiled. "Good night ladies."

Once the portrait closed back Dany spoke. "I think we should make you look so smokin' hot that James won't be able to resist you, so then _he_ makes the first move."

Lily laughed. "Yeah, that's not going to happen."

---------

On the last day of class James had just finished packing his suitcase when an owl flew in through the window. He pulled the letter from its leg and it flew out again. James sat down on the bed and recognized his cousin's messy scrawl.

_**Hey Jamesie-**_

_**Me and the girl are visiting her parents for the holidays. So the ment's all yours. Or you and Sirius can stay at Hogwarts. Whatever floats your boat. **_

_**Jonah**_

"Hey Sirius!" He called to the closed bathroom door. "Jonah's going with Beth to visit her parents for Christmas. You want to stay at the apartment or here?"

Sirius slammed open the door and pulled out his toothbrush out of his mouth. "What?! No Christmas party this year?" He took the note from James' hand and read. "Damn."

"Yeah last year was pretty fun." Remus remarked from his bed. "Especially when Peter got drunk off that egg nog."

"Hey! It was spiked!" Peter defended and threw his trainer at Remus' head.

"So what are we going to do?" James asked again, pulling on his robe. "I don't mind staying. I hear the Christmas feast is pretty spectacular."

Sirius thought for a moment. "We might as well stay here. Unless _you_ want to cook me some Christmas dinner."

"Well I'm going home." Remus said while grabbing his books. "My parents have been dying to see me. Make sure I'm still alive and eating properly, all that junk."

Peter nodded. "Me too. My mum and my grandma are going to have a cook-off." He licked his lips.

James smiled. "I wonder if anyone else is staying to kick off the New Year?"

---------

Lily was sitting on Dany's suitcase, trying to flatten it enough so that Dany could close the snaps.

"Are you sure you don't want to come home with us, sweetie?" Heidi asked, putting a spell on Dany's bag so that it would actually close.

"No. I'll be fine. I kind of just want to spend it alone. Since it'll be my first one… without them." Heidi and Dany nodded, knowing what she meant.

"Don't be afraid to owl us in the middle of the night." Dany said, testing the suitcase to make sure it would stay closed. "And I'll let you know if I catch any cute guys under the mistletoe."

"We still have a whole day of classes to say goodbye." Lily reminded them.

"It's never too early." Heidi said. "Now what do you say to grabbing some breakfast?"

---------

**A/N: So, James and Lily are both staying at Hogwarts… Ooh, intrigue? Anyway, it was a quick drabble chapter. Nothing big really happened, but whatever. Comments make my world go round. And curse you silent readers! I know who you are!**


	17. Christmas

**A/N: Okay, this took me ages to put up; I know. I've just been insanely busy with the holidays coming up. Decorating the house, Christmas parties, buying gifts and worst of all; finals. Plus, once I did find the time to write it, I had the biggest attack of writer's block ever. I just sat at the computer for more than 2 hours staring at a blank screen. **

---------

Dany pushed her gift into Lily's hands. She was proud of it and her wrapping wasn't _that_ bad this year. She especially liked the yellow bow she charmed on at the last minute. Yellow was Christmassy… right?

"Promise to at least _try_ to wait until Christmas to open it?" She asked her and Lily nearly fell over from the weight of the package.

Lily laughed once she got steady footing. "I swear."

Heidi placed her present on top of Dany's. "See you soon Lily. Happy Christmas." And then she and Dany took off down the road to Hogsmeade Station.

Dany looked back at Lily and noticed that her smile had already drooped. _Please, please let Lily have a good Christmas._

---------

"Hey James," Sirius called, plopping onto the couch in the Head's dorm. "So I hear that Ms. Evans will be staying for the holidays as well."

James cracked a smile. "Is that so?"

"C'mon, don't play it cool. Everything's perfect, she's single, you're single, you love her, and she says she loves you… When are you going to catch her under the mistletoe?"

"As thrilled as I am about that, I really don't want to scare her off, Pads." James admitted.

"Should I start teaching you the language of girls, my friend?"

James laughed. "I think I can handle this on my own, thanks."

"Have fun with that." Sirius snorted.

---------

Lily was sitting cross-legged on the couch in the common room, humming the tune to Carol of the Bells. She was, at the moment, offering suggestions to a nervous house elf that she had persuaded to talk to her.

"Perhaps add another red bauble up by the star."

The elf twitched and nodded. He snapped his fingers and red baubles appeared at the top.

She pondered the new look of the Christmas tree. "Put a blue one in that section by the fireplace, there are too many gold ones there."

The elf replaced all of the gold baubles around the tree with blue ones and almost fainted from nerves.

"Binky, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you or anything!" Lily unintentionally raised her voice and the house elf squealed and disappeared. A group of 2nd years by the window snickered and she swore under her breath.

So she took matters into her own hands and began decorating the tree with her own summoned ornaments and started attaching them.

"Feeling the Christmas spirit Evans?" Sirius Black whispered behind the couch and caused her to send a plastic snowflake falling to the ground and shatter on the floor.

"Black!" Lily shouted.

Sirius quirked an eyebrow. "Evans?" The 2nd years laughed at her again.

"How may I help you?" She asked through clenched teeth.

"Ah, I just wanted to pop in for a visit. But I'm afraid I must take my shower. Unless, of course, you like my ripe manly smell?"

"Ugh. Sod off, Black."

"As you wish Ms. Evans." And he walked off.

---------

Lucy looked at the clock beside her bed and groaned. Had she really slept in until 3:00? She stretched and looked about the room. She noticed that it was not only empty, but peculiarly clean…

It took her a good five minutes before she remembered that it was Christmas break and she had decided to stay at school rather than- she shuddered- go home for the holidays. The last thing she wanted to do was ring in the New Year with a shouting match between her and her step dad.

She dressed warmly, layering sweaters on top of each other and pulling on a pair of thick corduroys. She quickly ran a brush through her hair and applied a dab of lipstick before she deemed herself presentable and left the dorm.

She walked along a familiar corridor until she saw Sirius Black wandering a hallway as well, directly in front of her and going the same direction. She walked silently behind him and caught a whiff of berry shampoo.

"Sirius!" She called and watched with glee as he whipped around and a broad smile spread across his face.

"Hey Lucy. I didn't know you where staying for the holidays."

"Well, I, er. I didn't really feel up to facing the parents quite yet."

Sirius smiled, a warm, understanding smile. Then he looked up and laughed.

"What is it?" She demanded, thinking that he might be making fun of her.

Sirius pointed up, and there above them, was a sprig of mistletoe.

---------

**Dear Heidi,**

**I just wanted to tell you that I got your letter, and yes, that mark on your left cheek is definitely a beauty mark and not a mole, no matter how many times your sister may say otherwise. I hope you get the gift I sent you. I really have no idea how much weight Hades can carry, but we'll soon find out, won't we? I can't wait to see you again. That night by the Black Lake was one I don't think I'll ever forget. **

**Happy Christmas,**

**Remus**

---------

"Ms. Lily! Ms. Lily!" A little 1st year was running towards Lily, clutching a big owl to her chest.

"Yes Avril?" She asked her.

"Jeff's been acting weird. He won't eat and bit me once when I tried to stroke his feathers! I don't know who I should tell!" Avril cried.

"Hmm. Why don't you take him to Professor Grubbly-Plank, she'll fix him right up for you." She smiled at the girl as she ran off down the hall without another word.

She turned and almost ran into the bulk that was Professor Slughorn's large belly. "Hullo Professor!" She offered brightly, with a smile that could have made a Barbie jealous.

"Lily m'dear. I noticed you didn't show up to my Christmas party this year! 'Tis a bitter shame because there were some friends of mine I wanted you to meet!"

"Really? I'm sorry sir, I must have never gotten an invitation." Oh those darn invitations. She must have gotten at least 6!

He gave a forgiving smile. "It's all right. I'm sure you can come to mine next year as an invited guest." _Yeah right._

"We must have tea some time Professor!" Lily smiled that painful smile again. "But right now, I must run, for I have some Head duties to finish!"

Slughorn smiled proudly again. "Of course! And I just may take you up on that offer sometime!" She smiled and walked away, breathing a sigh of relief. Curse Slughorn and his favoritism!

---------

On Christmas Eve, Dany found herself unable to sleep. She woke up and paced around the room a few times before she sat down at her old desk and looked around the room.

It hadn't changed much. It still held the same posters and pink walls she had had when she was 11. There was a teddy bear named Carl sitting on a shelf above her bed. It was missing patches of fur and had only one eye.

She got up and retrieved the old bear from where he sat and looked out the window. It was beginning to snow.

_I could catch cold! I could be sick on Christmas!_ She bit her lip, and even though she tried to, she couldn't think of a better reason as to why she shouldn't go outside. She grabbed her coat and ran out the door.

She opened her mouth and let the snowflakes fall onto her tongue.

"And so I'm offering this simple phrase…" She whispered to herself as she spun in circles like a little girl. "To kids from one to ninety-two. Although it's been said, many times many ways, merry Christmas… to you."

---------

On Christmas morning, Lily leapt out of bed and observed her stack of presents. It was smaller without the amount of packages her parents used to provide, but it was still a pretty good size.

She pulled Dany's gigantic box from the bottom of the pile and sat it on her lap. She pulled off the colossal yellow ribbon and began to tear off the messy wrapping paper. She read the note first.

_**Lily,**_

_**Time to make you smoking. Merry Christmas and all that.**_

_**Dany**_

When she opened the present, she found a big, black container inside. The container was filled to the brim with an outrageous assortment of make-up. Black lipstick and some perfume that smelled like barbecue sauce where the first things she pulled out. She cracked up, realizing that this was a gag-gift. Heidi gave her a new romance novel that made her laugh even more. _Deadly Devotion: The Sequel to Luminous Lust_.

She sucked on a giant candy cane that her Brea had sent her as she walked down the steps. She suddenly felt a wave of loneliness and looked out the window. For once, it was raining rather than snowing and she had an urge to run out in the storm.

Once she reached the doors that led outside, she took one long look behind her before rushing out of the castle and onto the grounds.

---------

James was sitting on a rock by the lake meditating when the mild snow switched to a pounding rain. His glasses were soon fogged up and he ran to the shelter beneath a tree to clear them.

Once he sat down by the trunk and wiped his lenses he cursed at himself. Wasn't there some rule about taking shelter underneath a tree during a storm? But there was no lightning, no thunder, just the gentle platter of the rain onto the surface of the lake.

He was surprised to find that it was completely dry below the many branches, even without the leaves. So he leaned his head against the maple and shook out his hair.

"James?" A soft voice sounded through the downpour. He turned his head and saw Lily standing in the rain, just beyond the clearing the tree provided.

"Lily?" He asked back. Lily shivered and stepped beneath the branches and sat down next to James. She wasn't looking at him, and he noticed a slight blush spread up her cheeks.

"Wh-what are you doing out here?" She was still facing the lake and not him.

"I could ask the same of you." James argued. She blushed again.

"I- er. Guess you're right. Happy Christmas, by the way."

"Lily, we need to talk." That got her to look at him, even if she did move her eyes away a second later.

"Yeah we do." She wrapped her arms around herself and looked around. "Should we start with the beginning of the year?"

"That early?" He was just thinking of back to around December 3rd.

She nodded into her knees. "Yeah. That's when it all started, on the train."

"Oh, okay." He sat there, puzzled. "Did it begin when I was made Head Boy?"

"Er, sort of." She blushed again, her face becoming a red to rival her hair. "More or less when you stepped onto the platform."

"Oh." What did he do wrong then?

"Once you arrived and I saw Nova running to greet you, I didn't understand the feeling I felt then." He just looked at her.

"And then, I dunno, I realized that it was jealousy and that I missed having you around." She gulped. "And then Heidi and Dany and I convinced Sirius-"

"He told me about that part." James looked at the ground.

"Oh right." Lily's face was so red, it looked as if it would never return to its normal color. "I suppose he probably would…"

James raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't he spoke.

"Lily, after what happened last year at that party, Sirius, Peter and Remus all tried to help me get over you. But, I never did. At least, not completely." Lily finally looked at him, and he caught her eyes. "I meant what I said when I told you I love you."

"James, I-I meant it too." Her voice shook with emotion. "At least, I know that it's more than just a crush. It's more than just attraction. My heart aches when I think of you. I stutter when I talk to you, because I'm afraid of saying something wrong. Is this what love is?"

James felt himself moving closer to her, and taking her hand in his, and whispering, "It is."

And then he kissed her and she kissed back. And it was heaven. A heaven better than anything he ever could have imagined. He felt all his stress, all his anguish melt away at her touch and when they pulled apart, the weather had calmed and they made their way back to the castle through the drizzle, hand in hand.

----------

**And so it ends. Thanks everyone for reading my first fanfic. And to everyone that's been with me through the whole thing, through the cliché and the mediocre. Your positive comments were what kept me going. **

**-Balloon Baboon.**

**P.S. I **_**might**_** keep writing. I **_**might**_** make a sequel. I **_**might**_** write another fanfic. It all depends on if I can spare the time. Or if I even feel the urge to write. So you just **_**might**_** hear about me again. **_**Might**_


End file.
